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CELEBRATION 


ONE  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY 

OF   THE 

INCOKPORATION 

OF   THE 

TOWN    OF   PRINCETON,    MASS. 

OCTOBEH    aotll,    1850. 

INCLUDING    THE    ADDRESS 

OF 

HON.   CHARLES  THEODORE   RUSSELL, 

THE  POEM  OF 
PROP.    ERASTUS    EVERETT, 

AND 
OTHER  EXERCISES  OF  THE  OCCASION. 


"He  who  regards  not  the  memory  and  character  of  his  ancestors,  deserves  to  he 
forgotten  hy  posterity." 


WORCESTER: 

TRANSCRIPT   OFFICE,   WM.    R.    HOOPER,   PRINTER. 
1860. 


ACTION  OF  THE  TOWN, 


Pursuant  to  a  warrant  issued  by  the  Selectmen  of  the 
Town,  upon  the  petition  of  fifteen  legal  voters  thereof,  a 
town  meeting  was  held  at  Boylston  Hall,  on  the  22d  day 
of  September,  1859,  at  which  meeting  it  was  voted  to  cele- 
brate the  one  hundreth  anniversary  of  the  incorporation 
of  the  town,  on  the  20th  day  of  October  next,  with  ser- 
vices and  observances  suitable  to  such  an  occasion.  And 
the  following  persons  were  chosen  a  comjnittee  to  make 
all  necessary  arrangements  for  the  same,  viz.: 

At  Large. — George  F.  Folger,  Addison  Smith,  John 
Brooks,  Jr.,  Wilkes  Roper,  Charles  A.  Whittaker,  George 
E.  Pratt,  Edward  E.  Hartwell,  John  C.  Davis,  Ivory  Wil- 
der, Joseph  M.  Stewart. 

By  Districts. — No.  1,  Harlow  Skinner;  2,  Abram  Eve- 
rett ;  3,  William  H.  Brown ;  4,  Otis  Wood ;  5,  Paul  Gar- 
field ;  6,  George  Mason ;  7,  Samuel  Roper ;  8,  Artemas  J. 
Brooks ;  9,  William  B.  Goodnow ;  10,  Joshua  T.  Everett. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  town,  held  at  Boylston 
Hall,  on  the  8th  day  of  November,  "  Voted,  to  publish  in 
book  form  the  exercises  of  the  late  Centennial  Celebra- 
tion f  and  chose  the  following  a  committee  to  carry  the 
same  into  effect : 

Committee. — Joshua  T.  Everett,  Charles  Russell,  William 
B.  Goodnow,  Edward  E.  Hartwell,  Albert  C.  Howe. 

An  organization  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements 
was  effected  by  the  choice  of  William  B.  Goodnow,  Chair- 
man, and  Edward  E.  Hartwell,  Secretary.     Sub-committees 

M128805 


were  appointed,  to  whom  special  duties  were  assigned ; 
and  the  following  persons  were  unanimously  chosen  as  the 
officers  of  the  day : 

PRESIDENT   OF   THE   DAY. 

Hon.    CHARLES    RUSSELL. 

VICE  PRESIDENTS. 

Hon.  JOHN  BROOKS,  Dr.  ALPHONSO  BROOKS, 

ISRAEL  EVERETT,  JOSEPH  MASON, 

CALEB  S.  MIRICK,  SOLON  S.  HASTINGS,  Esq., 

Dea.  henry  BOYLES,  Dr.  WARD  N.  BOYLSTON, 

EBENEZER  SMITH,  RUFUS  DAVIS, 

JOHN  G.  HOBBS,  DANIEL  DAVIS, 

MOSES  GARFIELD,  FREDERICK  PARKER. 

TOAST   MASTER. 

JOSHUA  T.   EVERETT. 

CHIEF  MARSHAL. 

WILLIAM  B.  GOODNOW. 

ASSISTANTS. 

HARLOW  SKINNER,  EDWARD  E.  HARTWELL, 

WILLIAM  H.  BROWN,  GEORGE  f.  FOLGER, 

GEORGE  E.  PRATT,  OTIS  WOOD, 

JONAS  B.  BROWN,  CHARLES  T.  MIRICK, 

JOHN  BROOKS,  Jr.,  ADDISON  SMITH, 

ARTEMAS  J.  BROOKS. 

CHAPLAINS. 

Re7.  HUMPHREY  MOORE,  D.  D.,   Rey.  DAVID  O.  ALLEN,  D.  D. 


THE  CELEBRATION, 


Princeton  welcomed  home  her  native  and  adopted  sons, 
October  20th,  1859,  to  a  festival  long  to  be  remembered, 
in  commemoration  of  her  one  hundredth  birthday.  As  a 
stand-point  from  which  to  look  backward  and  forward,  the 
occasion  is  deeply  suggestive,  and  the  exercises  of  the  day 
were,  in  a  very  satisfactory  degree,  interesting  and  im- 
pressive. 

The  weather  was  unusually  cold  for  the  season,  yet 
warm  hearts  were  ready  to  greet,  and  were  as  warmly 
greeted  in  return.  A  family  gathering — scattered  East 
and  West,  North  and  South — the  good  old  grandmother 
could  hardly  expect  to  see  all  "who  have  gone  out  from 
her,  but  who  are  yet  of  her,''  present :  but  a  very  large 
number,  from  those  whose  whitened  locks  proclaimed 
them  the  friends  of  her  earlier  years,  to  those  who  could 
hardly  lisp  her  name,  were  there,  to  exchange  kindly  salu- 
tations, to  revive  old,  yet  none  the  less  pleasing,  associa-- 
tions,  and  unite  in  ascriptions  of  praise  to  the  Father  of 
Mercies,  for  giving  so  *'  goodly  a  heritage." 


OUT-DOOR    DEMONSTRATIONS. 

The  festivities  of  the  day  commenced  with  the  firing  of 
cannon,  the  parade  of  citizens,  under  the  escort  of  the 
Wachusett  Cornet  Band,  and  other  public  manifestations 
of  rejoicing.  The  streets  and  many  of  the  buildings  on 
the   hill  were  handsomely  decorated,  under  the   superin- 


••    •        •     *  *. 


teudence  of  Col.  Beals,  of  Boston.  The  Wachusett  Hotel 
saluted  visitors  as  they  came  up  the  hill,  with  the  motto, 
over  its  portico,  "  We  welcome  you  home,"  and  the  house  it- 
self was  profusely  ornamented.  Across  the  Common  were 
suspended  the  flags  of  all  nations,  and  the  Union  Congrega- 
tional Church  was  gaily  decorated  with  the  Colonel's  most 
impressive  combination  of  colors,  while  in  the  recess  in 
front  hung  a  full  length  portrait  of  "The  Father  of  his 
Country."  Over  the  pulpit  was  placed  the  motto,  which 
told  the  whole  story  of  the  celebration : 

"Princeton  Incorpoiiated  Oct.  20th,  1759." 
and   other   appropriate   memorial   emblems   and    mottoes 
were  displayed  throughout  the  town. 


PROCESSION. 

At  10  o'clock  A.  M.,  a  procession  was  formed  on  the 
Common,  under  the  direction  of  the  Chief  Marshal,  William 
B.  Goodnow,  and  his  aids,  in  the  following  order  : 

Aid.  Chief  Marshal.  Aid. 

Escort. 

Thirty  of  the  Sons  of  Princeton. 

Music  —  Wachusett    Cornet    Band. 

President  of  the  day,  Orator  and  Poet. 

Chaplains,  "Vice  Presidents  and  Invited  Guests. 

Rutland  Brass  Band. 

Rutland  delegation,  under  the  direction  of  Col. 

Calvin  G.  Howe  as  Marshal. 

Citizens  of  Princeton  and  other  towns. 

The  boisterous  weather  made  it  necessary  to  repair  to 
the  church,  (Rev.  Wm.  T.  Briggs',)  whither  the  procession 
was  conducted,  and  where  the  chief  exercises  were  held. 


EXERCISES   AT  THE  CHURCH. 

When  the  large  audience — filling  both  aisles  and  galle- 
ries to  overflowing — had  assembled,  William  B.  Goodnow, 
Chief  Marshal,  called  the  meeting  to  order,  and  introduced 
the  President  of  the  day,  Hon.  Charles  Russell,  who,  in 
coming  forward,  spoke  briefly  and  in  a  congratulatory 
manner  of  the  pleasant  circumstances  which  had  called 
them  together ;  regretting  that  they  had  not  now  the  large 
and  spacious  church  built  by  their  fathers  more  than  sixty 
years  ago,  but  which  had  now  passed  away.  He  craved 
the  indulgence  of  the  audience  while  they  made  the  best 
use  of  the  accommodations  they  had.  He  then  called  at- 
tention to  the  exercises  of  the  day,  which  were  as  follows : 

I. — Music  by  the  Band. 

II, — A  Voluntary  by  the  Choir. 

III. — Reading  of  select  portions  of  the  Scriptures  by  Rev.  Wm.  T.  Briggs. 

IV. — Prayer  by  Rev.  Humphrey  Moore,  D.  D.,  of  Milford,  N.  H. 

V. — An  original  Hymn,  composed  for  the  occasion  by  Joseph  W.  Nye,  of 

East  Princeton,  was  sung  by  the  Choir. 

HYMN. 

Not  as  they  met — those  pioneers, 

One  hundred  years  ago  to-day, 
Meet  we,  as  close  those  many  years. 

Our  tribute  of  respect  to  pay  ; 
They  met,  a  brave  but  feeble  band. 
Where  now  a  number  great  we  stand. 

Here,  where  the  savage  loved  to  roam, 

Amid  the  dim  old  solitudes. 
Hath  education  found  a  home  ; 

And  echo  now  these  "grand  old  woods," 
With  music  such  as  science  brings. 
Where'er  she  spreads  her  golden  wings  ! 

No  longer  dormant  lay  the  fields, 

Stirred  by  the  farmer's  clearing  plough, 

The  pasture  wild  a  harvest  yields. 
Rewarding  well  his  sweaty  brow  ; 

And  yearly  doth  the  fruitful  soil, 

Repay  him  for  his  days  of  toil ! 


And  Btill  with  ever  watchful  eye, 
Our  loved  high  priest,  "Wachusett,"  stands. 

While  fruitful  vales  around  him  lie, 
Baptised  in  plenty  at  his  hands  ; 

He  waves  his  censor,  and  the  gale. 

The  fragrance  beareth  through  the  vale ! 

God  of  Creation  !  bless  us  here, 
As  on  this  festal  day  we  come  ;  • 

Be  Thou  to  guide  us  ever  near, 
And  take  us  to  Thy  heavenly  home 

When  all  our  meetings  here  are  o'er, 

To  worship  Thee  forevermore. 

And  when  another  hundred  years. 
Have  rolled  upon  their  course  sublime, 

When  all  our  earthly  joys  and  fears 
Have  disappeared  with  fading  time ; 

Here  may  our  children's  children  meet. 

And  joyfully  this  scene  repeat ! 

After  thiS;  the  following  Oration  was  delivered  by  Hon. 
Charles  T.  Russell,  of  Boston, 


ORATION 

BY  HON.  CHARLES  T.  RUSSELL. 


One  hundred  years  ago,  to-day,  the  few  and  scattered 
dwellers  about  the  base  of  Wachusett,  received  from  the 
Colonial  Legislature,  and  the  Royal  Governor,  the  act 
which  gave  them  a  place  and  a  name  among  the  municipal 
corporations  of  Massachusetts.  Here  and  now,  upon  the 
soil  they  settled  and  subdued,  not  far  from  the  humble 
tavern  where  they  held  their  first  town  meeting,  we,  their 
children,  meet  on  the  old  and  loved  homestead,  in  joyful 
commemoration  of  the  centennial  birthday  of  our  town. 

Gathering  on  this  autumnal  morning,  at  home  and  from 
abroad,  not  strangers  nor  the  public,  but  townsmen,  friends, 
fathers,  mothers,  brothers,  sisters — a  family  circle,  around 
the  family  fireside — at  a  family  festival,  our  thoughts  irre- 
sistibly turn  to  family  matters.  Here,  on  a  Thanksgiving- 
day,  seated,  as  it  were,  on  the  settle,  by  the  dear  old  chim- 
ney corner,  while  the  dinner  is  cooking,  cold  and  strange 
would  it  be,  indeed,  did  we  not  talk  of  family  history,  with 
minuteness,  even,  of  remembrance  and  incident. 

We  come,  at  a  mother's  kindly  call,  with  a  child's  filial 
heart,  to  meet  her,  dearer  by  every  wrinkle  time  sets  upon 
her  brow,  in  her  own  home.  It  is  but  the  impulse  of  her 
2 


10 

early  instructions,  the  first  warm  greetings  over,  that  we 
reverently  bow  before  our  Maker,  at  her  knee,  and  with 
the  earnestness  of  childhood,  adopt  its  consecrated  words, 
and 

Thank  the  goodness  and  the  grace, 

That  on  our  birth  have  smiled, 
And  in  these  Christian  days, 

Made  each  a  free  and  happy  child. 

Rising  from  this  grateful  duty  to  other  service,  insensate 
should  we  be,  did  not  our  hearts,  in  this  interview  of  filial 
and  parental  love,  break  forth  in  blessings  many,  and  too 
strong,  perhaps,  for  stranger  ears,  upon  her  who  so  kindly 
cared  for  our  youth,  and  so  sweetly  smiles  on  our  manhood. 

In  our  most  public  proceedings,  to-day,  we  are  but 
townsmen,  in  town  meeting  assembled.  No  article  in  our 
warrant  authorizes  any  business  but  of  immediate  domestic 
concernment,  and  I  should  be  instantly  called  to  order  by 
universal  shout,  were  I  to  attempt  to  speak  of  aught  but 
our  own  early  history,  being  allowed,  of  course,  to  refer  to 
those  larger  and  more  general  events,  which  have  entered 
into,  modified  and  shaped  it. 

Standing  where  our  fathers  stood  a  hundred  years  ago, 
removed  from  them  by  a  century,  the  most  stirring,  active 
and  marvellous,  in  its  progress,  history  and  developments, 
of  any  since  the  Christian  era,  we  find  our  town  sharing 
always  in  the  general  advance  quite  up  to  the  standard  of 
an  agricultural  and  conservative  community,  still  in  all  that 
is  peculiar,  as  little  changed  as  any  in  the  Commonwealth. 
Yet  how  grand  and  striking  the  contrasts  made  by  mere 
circumstances,  the  changes  of  time,  and  the  progress  of 
knowledge  and  events,  between  the  days  of  them,  the 
fathers,  and  us,  the  children. 

In  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  hostile 
warwhoop  had  ceased  to  be  heard  in  the  "wilderness 
country,  beyond  the  Nashua,"  and  around  the  Wachusett. 
Sholan  no  longer  kept  his  royal  seat,  in  sight  from  this  hill, 
between  the  Washacums.     Lancaster  had  risen  from  the 


11 

ashes  in  which  the  Narragansett  war  had  laid  it.  Worces- 
ter sent  out  no  bodies  of  soldiery  on  the  report  that  large 
numbers  of  Indians  "hovered  between  it  and  Wachusett 
Mountain."  And  yet  of  the  first  settler  in  Princeton,  the 
grandfather  had  been  killed,  and  the  father  attacked  by 
these  same  savages ;  and  the  daughter,  born  as  late  as  1739, 
recollected  to  have  gathered  blueberries  on  this  very  hill 
with  a  file  of  soldiers  for  protection.  Men,  younger  than 
many  I  now  address,  remembered  the  Indian  fight  in 
Sterling,  and  the  burning  of  the  church  and  last  attacks 
at  Lancaster — remembrances,  events  just  then  occurring, 
might  well  quicken  and  impress. 

But  if  the  savages,  as  enemies,  had  retired,  the  forest 
was  present.  Looking  from  this  eminence,  on  the  20th  of 
October,  1759,  the  eye  rested  upon  a  wilderness,  clothed 
in  all  the  gorgeous  beauty  of  a  New  England  Autumn, 
— but  unbroken  in  its  whole  extent  save  where  some  dis- 
tant pond  glittered  in  the  sunlight,  or  the  curling  smoke  re- 
vealed the  settler's  dwelling,  or  the  smouldering  fires  of 
the  pioneer's  clearing.  Hubbardston,  Sterling  and  Boyls- 
ton  were  not.  Westminster  was  but  a  twin  born  sister. 
No  roads  threaded  these  primeval  woods.  And  dweller 
found  dweller,  in  traffic,  mutual  aid  or  social  intercourse, 
by  the  bridle  path  and  marked  tree,  escorted  by  an  occa- 
sional wolf  or  growling  bear.  No  mail — no  weekly  post- 
man, even,  brought  news  from  the  inner  world  to  these 
outside  settlers.  What  they  learned  of  the  distant  homes 
they  had  left  away  down  to  Shrewshury,  Lancaster  and 
Weston  and  Watertown,  they  gathered  by  chance  visits, 
or  the  letter  some  friendly  hand  casually  brought.  The 
Boston  Weekly  Newspaper,  which  found  its  way  occasion- 
ally to  some  of  them,  told  them  from  time  to  time,  of  the 
stirring  events  transpiring  around  them,  and  in  the  distant 
country  to  which  they  owed  allegiance. 

Our  fathers  were  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain.  The 
act  which  made  them  a  town,  and  the  warrant  which  called 
them  together'  to  organize  it,  were  alike  in  the  name  of 


12 

the  second  George.  Lightly,  as  in  their  forest  homes,  their 
allegiance  ordinarily  sat  upon  them, — there  was  a  peculiar 
significance  to  it  just  now.  They  were  in  the  midst  of 
sharing  actively  the  first  great  contest  for  civil  liberty  on 
the  continent.  Their  sovereign  was  its  leader,  and  king  and 
colonist,  cemented  by  a  common  interest,  alike  uncon- 
scious of  the  fact,  were  laying  broad  and  deep  the  founda- 
tion of  future  freedom. 

Hardly  more  than  a  century  since,  France,  by  military 
posts  and  possessions,  had  drawn  a  narrowing  circle 
around  the  English  Colonies,  and,  in  a  magnificent  sweep, 
claimed  jurisdiction  from  the  Gulf  of  St:  Lawrence  to  that 
of  Mexico.  On  the  Saguenay  and  Ottawa,  amid  the  soli- 
tary grandeur  of  Niagara,  at  Champlain,  and  along  the 
whole  line  of  inland  waters  from  Ontario  to  Michigan,  the 
rude  cross  marked  her  faith,  and  the  fleur  de  lis  asserted 
her  power.  Her  soldiery  struggled  with  Washington  for 
the  beautiful  basin  of  the  Ohio.  "  In  the  whole  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  to  its  head  springs  in  the  Alleghanies, 
no  standard  floated  but  hers."  The  institutions  of  the 
middle  ages  and  rising  liberty  confronted  each  other  in  the 
primeval  forest  and  untrampled  prairie.  What  race  should 
people  these  vast  solitudes,  what  language  make  them 
vocal, — feudalism  or  freedom,  Catholicism  or  Protestant- 
ism, which  should  take  root  in  this  virgin  soil, — these  were 
the  grand  issues  of  that  contest  Washington  opened  at 
Great  Meadows,  and  Wolfe  closed  at  Quebec. 

Long  before  Marquette,  La  Salle  and  Hennepin  had 
explored  the  Mississippi,  from  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  to 
its  mouth,  and  reared  along  its  solitary  banks  the  arms 
of  France.  French  forts  were  established  at  Champlain, 
Ontario,  Niagara,  Erie,  and  finally  on  the  sources  of  the 
Ohio  at  Pittsburg,  while  the  unbroken  forests  swarmed 
with  their  Indian  allies,  from  the  shores  of  the  lakes  to  the 
frowning  ramparts  of  Quebec.  Massachusetts  not  long 
back  had  mourned  French  and  savage  inroads,  of  which 
she  dreaded  the  renewal,  at  points  within  our  view  to-day. 


13 

They  had  roused  the  peaceful  Quaker  spirit  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  more  ardent  vigor  of  "Virginia  and  New 
York.  The  races  approached,  the  lines  were  drawn,  the 
posts  taken,  the  crisis  impended,  and  the  rattle  of  Wash- 
ington's musketry  in  the  western  wilderness  "  broke  the 
repose  of  the  world,"  and,  as  has  been  well  said,  "  began 
the  battle,  which  was  to  banish  from  the  soil  and  neighbor- 
hood of  our  republic  the  institutions  of  the  middle  age, 
and  to  inflict  on  them  fatal  wounds  throughout  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe." 

In  1750,  the  French  and  English  Commissioners  at  Paris 
had  failed  to  settle  the  boundaries  of  their  North  American 
territory  by  negotiation.  In  1754,  Washington  surren- 
dered at  Fort  Necessity.  The  year  following,  Massachu- 
setts troops  secured  Nova  Scotia,  and  became  associated 
with,  if  they  did  not  incur,  the  infamy  of  removing  the 
peaceful  Acadians.  Braddock,  self-willed  and  impracticable, 
met  his  disastrous  defeat  in  the  forests  of  Fojt  Du  Quesne. 
In  1756,  war  was  finally  declared  between  England  and 
France,  and  the  chivalric  Montcalm  assumed  the  French 
command  in  America.  Pushing  through  the  forest  and 
along  Lake  Ontario,  while  Loudoun  and  Abercrombie  lin- 
gered at  Albany,  he  captured  the  fort  at  Oswego,  reared 
upon  its  ruins  the  cross,  and  by  its  side  a  pillar,  bearing 
the  arms  of  France,  and  the  inscription,  "  Bring  lilies  with 
full  hands." 

Flushed  with  success,  the  next  year  he  descended  the 
shores  of  Lake  George  upon  Fort  William  Henry,  with 
eight  thousand  French  and  Indians,  where  the  gallant  Monro 
maintained  a  death  struggle,  till  half  his  guns  were  burst 
and  his  ammunition  all  expended.  In  August  of  that  year, 
Massachusetts  issued  an  order,  "  for  all  and  every  one  of 
his  Majesty's  well  affected  subjects,  able  to  bear  arms,  to 
repair  to  Fort  Edward,  on  the  Hudson,  to  serve  with  Gen. 
Webb,  for  the  relief  of  Fort  William  Henry,  which  still 
stands  out  fighting  against  a  large  and  numerous  body  of 
the   enemy."     Already  the  regiments   of  the   counties  of 


14 

Hampshire  and  Worcester  had  gone  forward  to  the  relief 
of  Monro,  and,  with  their  associates  in  arms,  but  for  the 
inefficiency  ol  Webb,  might  have  saved  us  the  sad  disaster 
of  that  broken-hearted  officer's  surrender. 

Just  then,  in  the  language  of  another,  '^  The  English  had 
been  driven  from  every  cabin  in  the  basin  of  the  Ohio. 
Montcalm  had  destroyed  every  vestige  of  their  power 
within  that  of  the  St.  Lawrence."  "  Of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Continent,  the  French  claimed,  and  seemed  to  possess, 
twenty  parts  in  twenty-five,  leaving  four  only  to  Spain  and 
but  one  to  Britain."  England  herself,  straining  every 
nerve  to  exhaustion,  to  aid  the  great  protestant  power, 
then  developing  itself  under  Frederic, — borne  down  by  an 
incompetent  ministry,  which  distrusted  the  colonies,  and 
was  repudiated  by  the  people,  seemed  incapable  of  turning 
the  tide  of  American  aifairs.  Massachusetts,  through  all 
her  borders,  trembled  for  her  security,  and  the  dwellers  in 
her  more  unsettled  interior,  recalled,  with  fearful  forebod- 
ings, savage  inroads  within  their  personal  recollection,  and 
from  causes  again  active. 

At  this  moment  of  disaster  and  gloom,  England's  great 
commoner  assumed  the  guidance  of  her  counsels,  and 
accomplished  some  of  the  brightest  glories  of  her  history. 
Entering  permanently  upon  his  administration  in  1757, 
challenging  the  support  of  the  colonies  by  a  generous 
confidence,  throwing  to  the  winds  the  fears,  and  boldly 
reversing  the  maxims  ol  his  predecessors,  he  matured  and 
executed  those  plans,  which  crowned  the  first  great  Amer- 
ican conflict  with  the  entire  subjugation  of  French  Amer- 
ica. ^ 

Animated  by  his  justice,  and  their  confidence  in  him,  the 
Colonies  rallied  at  once  to  his  support.  Massachusetts  sent 
seven  thousand  troops  to  the  army  of  that  year,  and  had  en- 
rolled nearly  one-third  of  all  her  effective  men.  In  July,  Am- 
herst, seconded  by  Wolfe,  captured  Louisburg,  and  in  the 
same  month  the  gallant  Howe  fell  at  Lake  George,  and 
Abercrombie  retreated,  disastrously  repulsed  by  Montcalm 


•       15 

from  Ticocderoga.  In  November,  Forbes,  prompted  and 
sustained  by  the  energetic  spirit  of  Washington,  took  Fort 
Duquesne,  and  as  his  country's  flag  rose  over  it,  gave  it 
the  name  of  that  country's  protector.  The  persevering 
Bradstreet  rescued  Abercrombie's  division  from  entire 
disaster  by  the  subjugation  of  Fort  Frontenac,  on  Lake 
Ontario. 

In  1759,  in  the  steady  march  of  events,  Niagara,  Ticon- 
deroga  and  Crown  Point  were  taken  by  the  English,  and 
the  French  driven  back  upon  the  St.  Lawrence.  Montcalm 
repaired  to  Quebec,  where  his  sagacious  mind  saw  the 
decisive  blow  must  be  met,  and  awaited  it  in  fearless  but 
foreboding  self-possession.  On  the  13th  of  September  it 
fell,  and  Wolfe,  noblest  and  bravest  of  British  officers,  over 
unprecedented  obstacles,  achieved,  with  his  life,  on  the 
plains  of  Abraham,  the  first  decisive  victory  of  American 
liberty  on  the  battle  field.  Our  fathers,  in  their  humble 
homes  in  the  forest,  received,  with  their  act  of  incorpora- 
tion, the  grateful  tidings  just  then  sending  a' thrill  of  exul- 
tant joy  throughout  the  Colonies,  and  which  emancipated 
them  from  the  further  power  or  fear  of  French  or  Indian. 

Such  were  the  times  and  scenes  amid  which  our  fathers 
lived.  Such  the  stirring  circumstances  and  grand  events 
transpiring  around  them, — not  distant  and  remote  and  to 
them  iildifferent, — but  upon  their  very  frontier,  and  threat- 
ening home  and  fireside.  They  shared  the  duties  and 
dangers  of  the  field,  and  in  almost  every  household,  nearly 
or  more  remotely  mourned  its  losses.  One  has  only  to 
run  over  the  muster  rolls  of  Chandler,  Buggies  and  others 
to  see  how  largely  all  this  region  of  Worcester  County 
participated  in  the  French  wars,  and  how  largely  they 
sufi'ered  from  them.  It  is  a  somewhat  curious  and  inter- 
esting fact  that  the  first  settler  of  Princeton  made  himself 
bankrupt  by  a  purchase  of  cattle  for  the  supply  of  the 
British  army  in  Canada. 

I  have  detained  you  longer,  perhaps,  than  I  ought, 
especially  after  my  promises  in  the  beginning,  with  these 


16 

larger  and  more  general  events.  I  have  done  so  because 
occurring  just  at  the  period  of  their  incorporation,  they 
illustrated  the  times  in  which  our  fathers  lived,  enter  into 
their  domestic  history,  affected  their  homes  and  firesides, 
and  were  the  familiar  subjects  which  filled  up  the  talks  of 
their  winter  evenings. 

But  it  is  quite  time  I  should  turn  to  history  purely  our 
own.  In  doing  so,  I  desire  to  say  that  the  short  time 
allowed  me  for  preparation  has  not  permitted  me  to  make 
all  the  investigations  I  could  desire — or  even  to  complete 
all  upon  which  I  have  entered.  I  have,  however,  found 
several  valuable  papers  and  maps,  that  I  supposed  were 
not  in  existence,  and  which  throw  much  light  upon  our 
early  history,  and  correct  some  errors  in  regard  to  it. 

The  territory  composing  our  town,  although  not  settled 
or  incorporated  till  a  comparatively  late  period,  was  yet 
early  known  and  somewhat  explored.  Wachusett,  as  the 
highest  land  in  the  State,  became  not  only  an  object  of 
interest  but  a  landmark  for  all  the  surrounding  country. 
Centuries  before  a  white  man  set  foot  upon  it,  such  was  it 
to  its  savage  possessors  and  frequenters.  Could  its  ven- 
erable summit  speak  to  us  of  all  it  has  witnessed,  while  for 
ages  it  looked 

"  Upon  the  green  and  rolling  forest  tops, 
And  down  into  the  secrets  of  the  glens,'' 

before  the  eye  of  civilized  being  rested  upon  it,  what  a 
history  might  it  unfold !  How  much  of  Indian  life  and 
action,  love  and  hate,  fidelity  and  treachery,  worship, 
cruelty,  decay  and  extinction  I  What  tribes  have  held  its 
sovereignty,  what  wild  tenants  thronged  its  precincts, 
what  scenes  of  peace  or  war  it  has  witnessed,  how  long  it 
stood  in  solitary  grandeur  before  human  foot  pressed  its 
rocky  soil, — what  captives  have  been  tortured  or  released 
at  its  base, — what  assaults  and  murders  planned  upon  its 
sides,  what  settlements  marked  and  devoted  from  its  top. 


17 

who  gave  it  the  name,  you,  with  such  good  taste,  refuse 
to  change,  and  witnessed  its  baptism,  far  back 

"  When  the  gray  chief  and  gifted  seer, 
Worshipped  the  God  of  thunders  here." 

We  may  interrogate  it,  but  we  shall  interrogate  it  in  vain. 
Everything  that  has  transpired  on  and  around  it,  from  the 
lighting  of  the  first  Indian  fire  in  its  forests,  to  the  last 
tale  of  love  whispered  in  the  pale-faced  maiden's  ear,  at 
sunset,  on  its  summit,  is  sacredly  locked  in  its  faithful 
bosom,  as  arrayed  in  the  splendor  of  its  autumnal  robes, 
it  looks  down,  in  serene  and  silent  majesty  upon  our  ser- 
vices to-day. 

Were  those  venerable  sides  now  to  break  their  long 
silence,  and  essay  to  speak,  dead  and  living  would  join  in 
equal  and  earnest  protest,  from  the  first  mountain  Hiawa- 
tha, who  there  laid  the  red  deer  at  his  Minnehaha's  feet,  to 
the  last  Summer  visitor  who  there  breathed  words  of  love 
to  his  Genevieve,  till  she  too 

"  Said  and  blushed  to  say  it, 
I  will  follow  you,  my  husband." 

And 

*'  Hand  in  hand,  they  went  together, 
Through  the  woodland  and  the  meadow. ' ' 

The  first  reference  to  Wachusett,  unless  we  adopt  the 
suggestion  that  it  is  the  liill  laid  down  by  John  Smith  in 
his  map  in  1616,  is  by  Gov.  Winthrop,  in  1632.  On  the 
27th  of  January,  of  that  year,  "  the  Governor  and  some 
company  with  him,"  says  his  journal,  "went  up  Charles  River 
about  eight  miles  above  Watertown,"  where  "  they  went 
up  a  very  high  rock,  from  whence  they  might  see  all  over 
Neipnett,  and  a  very  high  hill  due  west  about  forty  miles 
off."  Probably  this  is  the  first  specific  mention  of  any 
portion  of  the  territory  of  Worcester  County,  as  its  wil- 
3 


18 

derness  was  never  traversed  by  civilized  man,  until  the 
expedition  toward  Connecticut,  in  1635. 

In  1643,  Governor  Winthrop  again  says,  "At  this  court, 
Nashacowam  and  Wassamagoin,  two  sachems  near  the 
great  hill  to  the  west,  called  (Warehasset,)  Wachusett, 
came  into  the  court,  and,  according  to  their  former  tender 
to  the  Governor,  desired  to  be  received  under  our  protec- 
tion and  government,  upon  the  same  terms  that  Pomhom 
and  Saconoco  were  ;  so  we,  causing  them  to  understand  the 
articles,  and  all  the  ten  commandments  of  God,  and  they, 
freely  assenting  to  all,  they  were  solemnly  received,  and 
then  presented  the  court  with  twenty-six  fathom  more  of 
wampum,  and  the  court  gave  each  of  them  a  coat  of  two 
yards  of  cloth  and  their  dinner ;  and  to  them  and  their 
men,  every  one  of  them  a  cup  of  sack  at  their  departure ; 
so  they  took  leave  and  went  away  very  joyful.'' 

At  this  time  the  Nipmucks  owned  and  occupied  most  of 
the  region  now  making  the  south  part  of  Worcester 
County.  How  far  their  domain  extended,  and  what  were 
the  precise  relations  between  them  and  the  Nashaways, 
who  held  the  territory  along  the  Nashua  and  about  the 
Wachusett,  is  uncertain.  The  sachem  of  the  latter  was 
Sholan,  or  Shawman,  who  had  his  royal  residence,  if  that 
term  may  be  applied  to  a  wigwam  and  corn  patch,  on  the 
neck  of  land  between  the  Washacums,  in  our  sight  to-day. 
To  his  barbaric  dominion  our  territory  was  subject. 
During  this  year,  upon  his  invitation.  King  and  others  of 
Watertown,  purchased  of  him  a  tract  ten  miles  by  eight  on 
the  Nashua,  and  began  the  settlement  of  Lancaster.  This 
preceded  by  many  years  any  other  town  in  Worcester 
County,  and  was  for  a  half  century  the  nearest  settlement 
to  Wachusett. 

In  February,  1676,  the  Indians  of  this  region,  among 
whom  were  those  who  had  received  the  pious  instruction 
of  Eliot  and  Gookin^  instigated  by  Philip,  joined  in  the 
Narragansett  war.  Assembling  in  large  numbers,  they 
made  the  disastrous  attack  upon  Lancaster,  so  familiar  to 


us  from  the  simple  and  touching  narrative  of  Mrs.  Row- 
landson.  "  After  many  weary  steps/'  says  this  trusting 
Christian  woman,  returning  from  sufferings  and  wanderings 
in  the  wilderness,  "  we  came  to  Wachusett."  It  would 
seem  that  she  remained  here  with  a  body  of  Indians  during 
the  attack  upon  Sudbury,  and  she  describes  the  pow-wow 
preliminary  to  that  assault.  After  this,  she  says,  three  or 
four  miles  distant  from  the  mountain,  "  they  built  a  great 
wigwam,  big  enough  to  hold  an  hundred  Indians,  which 
they  did  in  preparation  to  a  great  day  of  dancing."  "  They 
began  now  to  come  from  all  quarters  against  the  merry 
dancing  day."  This  is  the  first  public  celebration  within 
the  limits  or  vicinage  of  our  town  of  which  we  have  any 
history.  For  a  curious  account  of  the  services,  I  must 
refer  you  to  the  lady's  narrative. 

Meantime,  Mr.  Hoar  had  come  to  secure  her  ransom,  and 
we  have  a  statement  of  some  diplomatic  social  intercourse, 
which  rather  unfavorably  reflects  upon  our  Indian  prede- 
cessors. "  In  the  morning,"  says  Mrs.  Rowlandson,  "  Mr. 
Hoar  invited  the  Sagamores  to  dinner ;  but  when  we 
went  to  get  it  ready,  we  found  they  had  stolen  the  greater 
part  of  the  provisions  Mr.  Hoar  had  brought,  and  we  may 
see  the  wonderful  power  of  God,  in  that  one  passage,  in 
that  when  there  was  such  a  number  of  them  together,  and 
so  greedy  of  a  little  good  food,  and  no  English  there,  but 
Mr.  Hoar  and  myself,  that  it  was  a  wonder  they  did  not 
knock  us  on  the  head,  and  take  what  we  had." 

Here  the  Indians  called  their  General  Court  which  finally 
consented  to  release  Mrs.  Rowlandson. 

Shortly  after,  the  General  Court  of  the  Province,  sent 
Seth  Perry  as  a  special  messenger  to  them,  and  by  him  a 
letter  addressed  to  "  The  Sagamore  about  Wachusetts, 
Phillip,  John,  Sam,  Washaken,  old  Queen  and  Pomhom." 
It  would  seem  from  this  that  Mr.  Hoar  brought  letters 
from  them,  suing  for  peace,  for  it  speaks  of  receiving  their 
letters,  and  adds,  "  In  your  letter  to  us  you  say  you  desire 
not  to  be  hindered  by  our  men  in  your  planting,  promising 


20 

not  to  do  damage  to  our  towns.  If  you  will  send  us  home 
all  the  English  prisoners,  it  will  be  a  great  testimony  of  a 
true  heart  in  you  to  peace.'' 

The  same  year,  in  a  letter  to  the  Council  at  Hartford,  the 
General  Court  say,  that  it  was  their  intention  to  have  left 
a  sufficient  garrison  at  Sudbury  and  Marlboro',  and  "  have 
drawn  their  forces  to  visit,  had  it  been  feasible,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  enemy  at  Wachusetts  ;"  but  divine  Provi- 
dence ordered  it  that  their  forces  "  by  weakness  and  wants 
could  not  attayne  that  end."  They  add,  we  "  hope  by  the 
first  of  June  to  be  out  with  five  hundred  horse  and  foot  and 
Indians,  on  the  visiting  of  the  ennemye^s  headquarters  at 
Wachusetts,  taking  it  in  the  march  to  Hadley." 

At  this  time,  beyond  doubt,  our  town  was  the  head- 
quarters of  the  hostile  Indians. 

In  1681,  Mr.  Stoughton  and  Joseph  Dudley  were  ap- 
pointed ,by  the  Court  to  negotiate  with  the  Nipmucks  for 
their  territory.  In  February  of  the  next  year  they  report 
that  they  have  purchased  of  black  James,  one  tract  for  thirty 
pounds  and  a  coat,  and  for  fifty  pounds,  another  tract  fifty 
miles  long  and  twenty  wide.  "  The  northern  part  towards 
Wachusett "  they  say  "  is  still  unpurchased,  and  persons 
yet  scarcely  to  be  found  meet  to  be  treated  with 
thereabouts." 

Four  years  later^  Henry  Willard,  Joseph  Rowlandson, 
Joseph  Foster,  Benjamin  Willard  and  Cyprian  Stevens  made 
the  purchase  of  Puagastion,  Pompamamey,  Wananapan, 
Sassawannow  and  Qualipunit  of  "  a  certain  tract  of  lands, 
Medows,  Swamps,  Timbers,  Etervils,  containing  twelve 
miles  square,"  and'  known  as  Naquag.  For  this  they  paid 
twenty-three  pounds — ^ which  is  much  higher  than  the  Prov- 
ince paid  for  the  Nipmuck  territory,  four  years  before. 
Although  the  price  is  but  eighty  cents  a  square  mile,  it 
seems  to  have  been  quite  up  to  the  market,  as  fixed  by  the 
sale  of  "adjoining  lots."  How  the  grantees  discovered  the 
title  of  these  Indian  grantors,  which  escaped  the  vigilance 
of  the  Provincial  Commissioners,  or  what  the  title  was 


21 

does  not  appear.  The  savages  backed  their  title  with  very 
ample  covenants  of  seizin,  and  set  their  marks  to  warranties 
of  the  strongest  form. 

This  purchase  included  what  is  now  Rutland,  Hubbard- 
ston.  Barre,  Oakham,  a  part  of  Paxton,  and  the  larger  half 
of  Princeton.  Its  northerly  line  ran  nearly  a  mile  north 
of  where  we  are  now  assembled,  across  the  whole  of  the 
town,  to  "  Greate  Wachusett/'  excluding,  however,  that 
mountain.  The  Indian  deed  was  probably  worthless  till 
confirmed  by  the  General  Court,  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
so  regarded.  We  hear  nothing  of  it  from  its  date  till  1713. 
During  the  intervening  period,  the  Indians  possessed  or 
frequented  the  territory.  As  late  as  1704,  an  attack  was 
made  upon  Lancaster,  and  the  Church  burnt,  and  in  1707 
the  Indian  fight,  as  it  is  called,  occurred  in  Sterling. 
Occasional  ruptures  and  murders  continued  up  to  1710. 

As  late  as  1725,  Capt.  Brintnall  was  ordered  to  surround 
and  protect  with  his  company,  the  meadows  in  Rutland, 
while  the  farmers  gathered  their  hay. 

In  1714,  the  General  Court,  upon  the  application  of  the 
sons  and  grandsons  of  Maj.  Simon  Willard,  and  others,  con- 
firmed to  them  the  land  described  in  the  Indian  deed,  pro- 
vided there  should  be  sixty  families  settled  thereon  in  seven 
years,  and  "  sufficient  lands  reserved  for  the  use  of  a  gospel 
minister  and  school."  On  the  14th  of  April  of  that  year, 
the  proprietors  held  their  first  meeting,  and  the  Indian  deed 
was  put  upon  record.  In  1716,  six  miles  square,  constitu- 
ting the  present  town  of  Rutland,  was  set  off  for  the  settlers 
required  by  the  condition  of  the  confirmation,  and  meas- 
ures taken  to  secure  them.  The  other  portions  of  the  ter- 
ritory were  soon  after  divided  into  wings  or  quarters.  Of 
these  the  east  wing  constitutes  the  southerly  and  larger 
part  of  Princeton. 

There  are  three  plans  of  this  Naquag  or  Rutland  pur- 
chase, on  file  in  the  archives  of  the  Commonwealth,  at  the 
State  House.  The  last  is  a  very  accurate  one,  presented  by 
Rev.  Thomas  Prince  and  others,  a  committee  of  the  propri- 


etors,  on  the  occasion  of  asking  the  grant  of  a  land  tax  in 
1749.  Upon  this  the  several  wings  or  quarters  are  all  laid 
down.  The  east  wing  is  a  parallelogram  nearly,  all  its  lines 
being  perfectly  straight,  the  east  and  west  each  eleven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  rods,  the  south  sixteen  hundred  and  ninety 
rods,  and  the  north  sixteen  hundred  rods.  Its  area  varies 
somewhat  on  these  and  the  later  plans,  a  fact  not  surprising 
in  those  days  of  liberal  allowance  "  for  sags  of  the  chain."  It 
contained  about  eleven  thousand  and  seven  hundred  acres, 
and  the  north  line  separating  it  from  the  Province  lands,  then 
unsurveyed  and  extending  far  beyond,  ran  straight  from 
the  south-east  corner  of  what  was  subsequently  known  as 
the  letter  M  lot,  to  the  extreme  south-west  edge  of  Wa- 
chusett.  The  Meeting-House  Hill  was  then  called  Turkey 
Hill,  and  this  line  ran  along  the  depression  between  the  two 
Wachusetts,  where  the  road  now  passes. 

This  tract  remained  in  common,  neither  surveyed  nor 
explored,  until  1718,  when  it  was  divided  by  the  proprietors 
into  forty-eight  farms,  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
acres  each.  At  this  time  there  were  thirty-three  propri- 
etors, and  at  a  meeting  in  Boston,  Novembers,  of  that  year, 
one  of  these  farms  was  assigned  to  each  by  lot.  The  three 
meadow  lots,  Pout  Water,  Wachusett,  and  Dead  Meadow, 
were  reserved  for  common  use.  Twelve  lots,  marked  by 
letters  from  A  to  M,  were  also  reserved,  eleven  for  the 
proprietors,  the  other  "  for  the  first  ordained  minister  of 
Rutland."  The  full  list  of  the  proprietors,  with  the  lot  of 
each,  is  recorded  in  their  records. 

The  lettered  lots  were  owned  in  common  until  September 
24th,  1734,  when,  at  a  meeting  of  the  proprietors  at  the 
Royal  Exchange  Tavern,  Boston,  these  lots,  together  with 
the  "gores  and  gussets,"  as  the  records  have  it,  were  divided. 
At  the  same  meeting,  it  was  voted  that  sixty-three  acres 
'^  in  lot  No.  A,  (this  included  the  Meeting-House  Hill,)  not 
having  been  set  ofi"  to  any  of  the  proprietors,  by  reason 
of  the  brokenness  of  it,  be  granted  to  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas 
Prince,  in  consideration  of  the  great  care  and  labor  he  has 


23 

taken  in  calculating  and  computing  the  divisions  above 
mentioned,  and  other  good  services  performed  to  the 
proprietors." 

In  November,  1736,  the  Wachusett,  Pout  Water  and  Dead 
Meadow  lots  were  divided,  in  the  division,  one  acre  of 
meadow  being  "  valued  as  three  acres  of  upland."  Thus, 
the  whole  territory  became  subdivided  and  passed  to  indi- 
viduals. Of  these  the  Rev.  Mr.  Prince,  as  the  proprietor 
of  five  shares,  was  the  largest  owner,  although  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  a  proprietor  at  the  division  in 
1718.  Probably  still  further  purchases  were  made  by  him 
before  1759. 

The  northerly  and  remaining  portion  of  the  town, 
comprising  at  its  incorporation,  seven  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-three  acres,  is  composed  of  several  dis- 
tinct grants,  the  history  of  which  time  does  not  permit 
me  to  give  in  detail.  The  largest  and  most  important 
was  made  to  the  towns  of  Weston  and  Watertown.  Its 
circumstances  and  date  have  been  inaccurately  stated 
heretofore,  as  I  find  by  the  original  documents,  to  which  I 
have  recently  had  access. 

In  1651,  Watertown,  then  embracing  Weston,  was 
involved  in  a  controversy  with  Sudbury,  as  to  boundaries, 
which  the  General  Court  settled  in  favor  of  Sudbury.  At 
the  same  time  it  passed  an  order  that  '^  Water  Toune  shall 
havB  two  thousand  ackers  of  land  laid  out  nere  Assabeth 
River,  in  respect  of  such  land  as  was  wanting  to  them, 
which  was  granted  them  formerly  by  this  Court  to  be  the 
bounds  of  their  toune." 

For  some  reason,  this  grant  never  took  effect,  or  was 
never  located.  In  1728,  Watertown  and  Weston,  which  had 
then  been  incorporated,  petitioned  to  have  it  revived ;  and  in 
June  of  that  year,  the  General  Court  granted  to  those  towns 
two  thousand  acres,  to  be  located  in  any  unappropriated 
lands  of  the  Province.  In  November  it  was  selected,  sur- 
veyed, and  a  plan  returned  to  the  General  Court.  In  this  it 
is  described  as  "in  the  unappropriated  land,  joining  to  the 


24 

Great  Watchusett  Hill,  bounded  south-westerly  by  Rutland 
line  of  their  township,  every  other  way  by  Province  land." 
This  tract  ran  on  Rutland  line  eight  hundred  and  forty 
rods,  or  a  little  more  than  two  and  a  half  miles.  Its  lines 
are  all  strait  except  the  west,  which  is  very  daintily  deflected 
to  exclude  the  mountain,  and  at  the  same,  include  all  the 
valuable  land  at  its  base.  Wachusett  was  no  favorite  with 
the  land  seekers,  who  alike  closed  their  inhospitable  lines 
against  it,  thrusting  it  into  cold  exclusion,  till  some  enter- 
prising surveyor  should  bring  it  in,  by  a  gigantic  sag  of 
the  chain,  or  some  masterly  deduction. 

This  tract,  commencing  at  a  point  on  the  line  of  Rutland 
East  Wing,  a  little  south-easterly  of  the  Whitney  Hill,  ex- 
tended to  East  Princeton,  including  a  part  of  that  village, 
and  thence  over,  or  to  the  north  of  Pine  Hill,  to  the  base 
of  Wachusett,  and  thence  along  this  to  the  Rutland  line. 
It  was  known  as  the  Watertown  Farm,  and  is  usually  so 
called  in  public  documents  of  the  time.  It  was  sold  by 
the  towns  to  proprietors,  and  by  them  divided  into  farms 
of  equal  value. 

Another  large  grant  of  fifteen  hundred  acres  was  made 
to  Thomas  Plaisted.  This  tract  is  usually  called  the  Pot- 
ash Farm,  in  the  public  records.  When  granted,  or  for 
what  purpose,  I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  as  yet.  It 
seems  that  Plaisted  did  not  fulfill  the  conditions  of  the 
grant,  for  in  1760,  the  G-eneral  Court  directed  William 
Richardson  to  demand  of  Timothy  Mosman  possession  of 
the  "fifteen  hundred  acres  granted  Plaisted  on  certain  condi- 
tions which  were  not  fulfilled  by  him."  In  1761,  they  sent  a 
committee  to  prevent  and  prosecute  the  encroachments  of 
Lancaster  upon  this  farm — that  town,  then  including  Ster- 
ling, claiming  some  part  of  it  to  be  within  her  bounds.  In 
1762,  an  attempt  was  made  to  sell  this,  a  farm  of  eighty 
acres  west  of  it,  and  the  Wachusett,  at  auction,  putting 
them  up  at  a  limited  minimum  price.  The  same  year,  Ezra 
Taylor,  as  a  committee,  came  up  and  run  the  lines  of  the 
Potash  Farm,  and  reported  that  he  found  the  most  valuable 


25 

part  of  the  timber  cut,  and  adds,  ^'  I  can't  find  out  any 
person  who  has  done  it,  except  one  Timothy  Mosman,  who 
was  then  in  possession." 

In  1764,  the  General  Court,  on  the  last  day  of  its  session,  ' 
granted  the  farm  to  Gen.  Timothy  Kuggles,  the  speaker, 
"  in  testimony  of  their  grateful  sense  of  the  important  ser- 
vices he  rendered  his  country  during  the  late  war." 

Besides  these  larger,  there  were  various  grants  to  indi- 
viduals. In  1729,  three  hundred  acres  to  Rev.  Joseph 
Willard,  of  Rutland,  and  two  hundred  to  Benjamin  Muzzy. 
In  1732,  four  hundred  to  Rev.  Benjamin  Allen,  and  two 
hundred,  in  1733,  to  Joseph  Stevens,  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty  to  Joshua  Wilder,  Jr.,  in  1743.  There  were  also 
the  Blagrow  and  the  Mayhew  farms,  and  there  was  included 
in  the  town  at  the  incorporation,  a  considerable  area  of 
Province  land,  of  which  the  mountain  was  part. 

As  early  as  1734,  some  votes  were  passed  by  the  Rutland 
proprietors,  in  reference  to  "  bringing  forward  settlements 
in  the  East  Wing,"  but  none  were  made.  The  first  settle- 
ment in  Princeton  was  not  upon  this  territory,  nor  upon 
the  Watertown  farm,  but  by  an  enterprising  pioneer  upon 
a  grant  he  obtained  from  the  Province.  This  settlement,  I 
think,  from  evidence  in  my  possession,  must  have  been 
made  three  or  four  years  later  than  has  been  supposed. 
Joshua  Wilder,  Jr.,  has  been  generally  understood  to  have 
been  the  first  settler.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Capt. 
Nathaniel  Wilder,  of  Lancaster,  a  man  of  some  celebrity 
in  his  time,  and  grandson  of  the  elder  Nathaniel,  who  was 
killed  in  one  of  the  Indian  attacks  upon  that  town.  He 
commenced,  and  for  many  years  occupied,  the  farm  more 
recently  owned  by  the  late  Peabody  Houghton,  and  has 
been  generally  stated  to  have  settled  there  as  early  as 
1739.  But  I  find  on  the  files  at  the  State  House,  a  petition 
from  him  to  the  General  Court  at  the  May  session  in  1742, 
wherein  he  sets  forth,  "  That  the  distance  between  Lan- 
caster and  a  new  town  called  Nichewaug  is  about  twenty- 
five  miles.  That  about  ten  miles  west  of  Lancaster  Meet- 
4 


26 

ing-House  there  is  a  track  of  Province  land,  which  contains 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  lying  between  land 
formerly  granted  to  Mr.  Plaisted  and  Allen,  and  a  farm 
called  Blagrows  farm,  which  lys  out  of  the  bounds  of  any 
Town." 

"That  your  petitioner,  though  a  poor  man,  yet  he 
humbly  apprehends  he  hath  the  character  of  an  Honest 
and  Laborious  man,  and  is  minded  to  settle  himself  and 
family  thereon." 

''  That,  therefore,  he  is  very  desirous  of  obtaining  a  grant 
of  said  land  on  such  conditions  as  may  be  consistent  with 
your  Excellency's  and  Honorable  wisdom,  on  as  easy  terms 
as  may  be,  and  should  he  obtain  it,  he  apprehends  it  would 
be  of  great  service  to  people  travelling  from  Lancaster  to 
the  new  towns  now  settling  westward,  to  have  a  house  to 
depart  to  in  their  travelling." 

Upon  this  petition,  the  General  Court,  April  7th,  1743, 
ordered  that  the  land  be  granted,  provided  the  petitioner 
"  does  within  one  year  have  a  good  and  convenient  house 
built  thereon  for  the  accommodation  of  Travellers,  and 
have  ten  acres  thereof  cleared  and  brought  to  English 
grass  or  plowing  within  four  years,  and  that  he  dwell 
thereon  with  his  family,  or  have  one  other  good  family 
dwell  thereon." 

This  grant  must  have  been  the  farm  on  which  Wilder  set- 
tled. If  so,  he  came  here  in  1743,  and  not  1739.  I  presume 
this  was  the  first  settlement  in  town,  and  such  would  be 
the  natural  inference  from  the  statements  of  Wilder's  peti- 
tion, and  the  reasons  and  conditions  upon  which  the  grant 
was  made.  Nishewaug,  Petersham,  was  being  settled  at 
this  time,  and  from  its  frontier  and  exposed  situation,  was 
an  object  of  interest  to  the  government,  and  it  is  stated  by 
the  historian  of  Worcester  County,  that  •'  there  were  no 
settled  towns  nearer  than  Lancaster  on  the  east,  and  Rut. 
land  to  the  south-east,  and  Brookfield  to  the  south,  except 
a  few  new  settlers  in  Hardwick."  The  first  settlement  of 
our  town  had  thus  something  of  public  interest  ubout  it, 


27 

and  was  in  aid  of  the  pioneer  emigrants  to  the  then  nearest 
West. 

Mr.  Wilder  occupied  his  farm  till  after  the  incorporation, 
when,  having  lost  his  property  by  a  speculation  in  cattle 
for  the  supply  of  the  army  in  Canada,  he  sold  out  and 
removed  to  Cold  Spring,  now  Belchertown,  where  he  died 
in  1762. 

The  next  settler,  and  the  first  in  the  Rutland  part,  was 
Abijah  Moore,  who  began  the  farm,  now  occupied  by 
Major  Joseph  A.  Read,  in  1750.  Here  Mr.  Moore,  who 
subsequently  became  a  leading  man  in  town  and  church, 
shortly  after  opened  a  tavern,  the  first  in  the  place,  unless 
Mr.  Wilder's  wilderness  station  had  that  character.  Prob- 
ably both  had  reference  to  the  same  wants  of  settlers 
beyond. 

The  third  inhabitant  was  Mr.  Cheever,  who  occupied 
the  Cobb  Farm,  in  the  southerly  part  of  the  Bast  Wing. 
The  next  settlement  was  in  the  extrerae  north-west, 
between  Wachusett  and  the  pond,  on  the  farm  more 
recently  occupied  by  Luther  Goodnow.  This  was  made 
by  Robert  Keyes,  who  came  there  from  Shrewsbury.  I 
think  it  quite  probable  Mr.  Keyes  was  connected  with  the 
first  settler  by  marriage,  as  Mr.  Wilder's  wife  was  the 
daughter  of  Major  John  Keyes  of  Shrewsbury. 

These  early  settlements  were  in  opposite  extremes  of 
the  town.  Each  was  distant  from  its  nearest  neighbor 
some  two  miles,  and  two  double  that.  Two  were  in  Rut- 
land, and  two  upon  Province  land,  not  in  any  town  or 
district. 

Mr.  Keyes  was  somewhat  noted  as  a  hunter,  and  this 
character  may  have  guided  his  choice  of  a  locality  in  the 
woods,  under  the  Wachusett.  His  settlement  became  more 
notorious  than  the  others,  by  the  fact  that,  shortly  after,  he 
lost  a  daughter,  who  strayed  into  the  woods,  following  her 
older  sisters  who  had  gone  to  the  neighboring  pond.  The 
country,  for  many  miles  round,  was  rallied  to  search  the 
forest  for  her,  and  the   pond  was  dragged ;  but  no  traces 


28" 

or  tidings  of  her  were  ever  had.  It  was  generally  believed 
then  and  since  thai  she  was  carried  off  by  Indians. 

I  have  recently  found  upon  the  files  of  the  General 
Court,  a  petition  from  Mr.  Keyes^  presented  in  1765,  in 
which  he  says,  that  "in  ye  year  of  1755  he  lost  one  of  his 
children,  and  was  supposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Indians  and 
carried  to  Canada.  When  it  was  first  lost,  it  was  appre- 
hended to  be  in  the  woods,  wandering  about,  and  your 
petitioner  was  at  great  cost  and  trouble  in  searching  the 
woods  for  it,  but  to  no  good  purpose ;  after  this,  he  hears 
that  it  was  at  Canada,  and  that  he  could  get  further  infor- 
mation thereof  at  Porch  Mouth,  in  New  Hampshire  ;  on 
hearing  that  he  went  there,  and  also  sent  to  Canada  after- 
wards. He  advertised  said  child  in  the  New  York  papers  ; 
upon  that  he  had  an  account  of  such  child  being  among  the 
Mohawks,  and  determined  to  go  after  his  child  last  Pall, 
but  has.  hitherto  been  prevented  by  reason  of  sickness 
and  deaths  in  his  family.  And  the  loss  he  hath  been  at  in 
searching  for  said  child  hath  been  so  great,  being  about 
one  hundred  pounds  lawful  money,  that  he  is  not  able  to 
bear  it,  being  in  a  new  plantation ;  and  as  there  is  within 
sixty  rods  of  his  door  some  Province  land  lying  on  ye 
Watchusetts  hill,  which  would  be  some  advantage  to  him, 
providing  he  could  have  it;  therefore,  your  petitioner 
humbly  prays  this  Honorable  Court  to  take  his  case  in  your 
compassionate  consideration,  and  make  him  a  grant  of  ye 
easterly  half  of  said  Wachusett  hill." 

The  only  record  I  find  in  regard  to  this  petition  is  the 
indorsement  "  negatived,"  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Sec- 
retary. It  is  interesting,  however,  as  the  father's  account 
of  the  searches  for  his  lost  daughter.  The  probabilities 
are  this  child  perished  in  the  woods  or  pond. 

The  settlements  subsequent  to  1751,  must  have  been 
rapid.  The  next  in  time  was  that  of  Oliver  Davis,  upon 
Clark  Hill,  near  the  present  line  of  Hubbardston.  Mr. 
Davis  was  a  man  of  enterprise,  as  well  as  mechanical  skill, 
and  having  purchased  a  tract  of  one  thousand  acres,  partly 


in  this  town  and  partly  in  Hubbardston,  he  built  the  first 
saw  and  grist  mill  in  this  immediate  region,  near  where 
the  Yalley  Village  Mills  now  stand. 

In  June,  1758,  there  were  thirty  families  in  town,  as 
appears  by  the  petition  of  Benjamin  Houghton  and  others, 
— then  presented  for  an  act  of  incorporation.  In  addi- 
tion, there  must  have  been  some  score  or  two  of  hard- 
handed  yeomen,  hewing  away  with  might  and  main  at  the 
primeval  forest,  to  get  a  clearing  and  a  log  house,  for  the 
blushing  helpmeet  they  instantly  thereupon,  every  one  of 
them,  intended  to  bring  behind  him,  on  a  pillion,  to  these 
sylvan  shades  and  this  mountain  home.  Why,  the  dullest 
ear  in  the  woods  could  have  detected  every  man  chop- 
ping under  these  tender  circumstances,  by  the  quicker 
stroke  and  merrier  ring  of  his  axe,  or  the  smarter  or  more 
fantastic  whistle  following  each  crash  that  took  one  from 
the  obstacles  between  him  and  his  happiness,  while  in 
the  distant  towns  below,  hearts  watched  as  anxiously  for 
tidings  of  "  the  men  about  the  Watchusetts,"  as  did  ever 
Governor  Leverett  and  his  General  Court,  in  the  days  of 
''  Sagamore  Philip,  John,  Sam,  Washaken,  Old  Queen  and 
Pomhom." 

Excellent  notions  had  the  sons  as  well  as  the  fathers,  in 
those  days :  First  freedom ;  then  an  axe  ;  then  a  clearing ; 
then  a  house  ;  then  a  wife  to  make  it  home ;  a  bible  to 
make  it  Christian ;  honest  loving  labor  to  give  it  comfort, 
and  thenceforth  every  thing  went  as  regular  as  clock- 
work, from  the  care  of  the  dairy  to  the  christening  of  the 
children. 

That  a  goodly  number  of  these  single  men  were  here, 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  seventy-four  names  of  persons, 
who  represent  themselves  as  ^'proprietors  and  inhabitants,'- 
appear  upon  the  papers  connected  with  the  incorporation, 
while  there  were  but  thirty  families. 

Many  of  you  may  be  surprised  to  learn,  that  the  incor- 
poration was  not  obtained  until  after  a  severe  and  pro- 
tracted struggle  of  more  than  a  year,  between  the  North 


30 

and  South,  or  in  modern  language,  of  quite  a  sectional 
character.  I  have  recently  found  most  of  the  documents 
which  this  struggle  originated,  and  they  furnish  much 
valuable  information  in  regard  to  the  town  at  that  period. 

June  8, 1758,  Benjamin  Houghton  and  others,  residents 
of  the  Farms,  and  the  northerly  part  of  the  Wing,  presented 
a  petition,  praying  that  "certain  farms  near  the  great 
Watchusetts  Hill,  and  contiguous  to  Rutland  East  Wing; 
containing  a  track  of  about  six  miles  by  three,  together 
with  the  East  Wing  of  Rutland,  containing  about  a  like 
quantity,  upon  which  there  are  about  thirty  families  already 
settled,  be  erected  into  a  township."  Upon  this  petition 
leave  was  granted  to  bring  in  a  bill ;  but  nothing  more  was 
done  until  the  next  session,  in  January  1759.  A  petition 
was  then  presented  by  Eliphalet  Howe  and  others,  inhabit 
tants  of  the  East  Wing,  praying  that  the  Wing  alone,  might 
be  made  a  town.  Upon  this  petition  the  Council  ordered 
notice,  but  the  House  summarily  dismissed  it,  and  with  it 
the  previous  one  of  Houghton. 

The  succeeding  February,  Houghton  and  others  again 
petitioned,  setting  forth  "  that  said  farms  and  Wing  being 
incorporated  into  a  Distinct  Township,  will  make  a  very 
good  one,  and  do  not  contain  the  contents  of  six  miles 
square,  and  that  said  Wing,  by  itself,  will  not  be  able  to 
defray  the  charges  of  building  a  meeting-house,  settling  a 
minister,  and  maintaining  the  Gospel  among  them,  and 
making  roads,  without  an  intolerable  heavy  tax  ;  "  that  the 
farms  are  not  able  alone  to  meet  such  charges,  and  "  cannot 
be  accommodated  to  any  other  town,  and  will  be  forever 
disobliged  if  not  laid  to  said  wing,  and  both  together  will 
find  the  charges  of  a  new  settlement  heavy  enough  ;  "  that 
"  both  wing  and  farms  are  at  present  under  very  difficult 
circumstances,  by  the  extreme  distance  and  badness  of  the 
roads  to  the  public  Worship  of  God  in  any  other  Town." 
They  add,  "  we  can  but  seldom  attend  it,  and  in  the  winter 
season  are  quite  shut  up,  which  circumstances  are  not  only 
distressing  to  the  present  Inhabitants,  but  very  Discour- 


SI 

aging  to  new  Settlers.  Wherefore,  the  humble  prayer  of 
your  petitioners  is,  that  said  wing  and  farms  may  be 
incorporated  as  above-said." 

This  petition  was  signed  by  forty-five  persons,  of  whom 
twenty-four  resided  upon  "  The  Farms,"  and  twenty-one 
upon  the  '"  Wing." 

Notice  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court,  to  be  given 
"  to  the  Proprietors  and  Inhabitants  of  the  East  Wing  of 
Rutland,"  by  inserting  the  substance  of  the  petition  in 
some  one  of  the  Boston  Newspapers,  to  show  cause  if  any 
they  had,  at  the  next  session  of  the  court,  why  the  prayer 
of  the  petition  should  not  be  granted. 

The  notice  given  was  defective  in  form,  and  Eliphalet 
Howe  and  others,  by  memorial,  took  advantage  of  this. 
The  petition  was  thereupon  postponed  to  the  May  session, 
and  new  notice  ordered  and  given. 

At  this  session,  Joseph  Eveleth  and  twenty-one  others, 
'*  Inhabitants  and  Proprietors  of  the  East  Wing  of  Rutland," 
sent  in  a  long  memorial,  "  in  answer  to  the  petition"  of 
Houghton  and  others,  and  praying  "  that  said  wing  might 
be  incorporated  into  a  Town  or  District."  In  this  they 
say,  "  your  memorialists  beg  leave  to  say,  that  they  are 
very  sure  that  Every  Impartial  man  that  is  acquainted  with 
the  Situation  and  Circumstances  of  said  Wing  and  farms 
will  Readily  say  that  the  wing  of  itself,  will  make  a  much 
better  settlement  than  if  the  farms  are  laid  to  said  wing, 
for  this  Reason,  Because  the  farms  in  General,  are  some  of 
the  poorest  land,  perhaps,  that  there  is  in  the  Province, 
Lyes  in  a  very  bad  form,  and  although  the  said  Proprietors 
and  Inhabitants  of  said  farms,  did  exhibit  a  plan  to  your 
Excellency  and  Honors,  that  appeared  that  said  farms  lay 
in  a  very  good  form  to  be  adjoyned  to  said  Wing.  Your 
memorialists  beg  leave  to  say,  that  they  are  very  sure  that 
said  plan  is  not  true, — But  done,  as  they  apprehend,  to 
Deceive  your  Excellency  and  Honors,  and  as  almost  all  the 
Best  of  the  land  in  said  wing.  Lyes  on  the  Southerly  side 
of  it,  and  the  Chief  of  the  Inhabitants  living  on  that  Side; 


32 

and  not  only  so,  but  the  land  on  the  northerly  side  Never 
will  admit  of  Half  so  good  a  Settlement  as  the  Southerly 
side  will ;  and  if  the  farms  should  be  annexed  to  said  wing, 
it  would  Gary  the  Center  of  the  wing  and  farms  to  the 
very  Northerly  side  of  said  Wing,  which  would  oblige  the 
two-thirds  of  the  Inhabitants  always  to  travel  Three  or 
Four  miles  to  meeting,  and  the  great  Difficulty  that  your 
memorialists  must  be  put  to  in  making  Highways  and 
Building  Bridges  through  a  very  Rough,  Rocky  Country, 
will  Burden  them  so,  that  they  had  rather  have  one-quarter 
of  their  Real  estate  Taken  from  them,  than  to  be  obliged 
to  Joyne  with  those  People,  where  they  are  certain  they 
shall  always  live  in  Trouble  and  Difficulty.  And  as  the 
said  wing  contains  better  than  twelve  thousand  acres  of 
Land,  and  is  capable  of  making  a  very  good  Settlement  of 
itself,  and  cost  your  memorialists  a  very  great  price  ;  and  if 
your  Excellency  and  Honors  should  annex  the  Farms  to 
the  wing,  we  apprehend  it  would  be  taking  away  the 
Rights  of  your  memorialists,  and  giving  it  to  those  that 
have  no  just  claim  to  it."  They  therefore  pray  that  the 
petition  of  Houghton  and  others  may  be  dismissed,  and 
that  the  wing  may  be  incorporated  into  a  Town  or  District. 

This  petition  and  memorial  was  referred  to  a  Joint  Com- 
mittee of  the  General  Court,  who  gave  the  parties  a 
hearing,  and  reported,  "  That  in  order  to  have  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  sundry  things  mentioned  in  said 
Petition,  that  a  Committee  be  appointed  and  sent  by  this 
Honorable  Court  to  view  the  Farms  and  the  Bast  Wing 
above  mentioned,  and  Report  to  the  Court,  the  charge  of 
said  Committee  to  be  borne  as  this  Honorable  Court  shall 
hereafter  order."  This  Report  was  accepted,  and  Gama- 
liel Bradford,  Mr.  Witt,  and  Colonel  Gerrish  were  appointed 
the  Joint  Committee. 

This  Committee  had  a  view  and  further  hearings,  and 
there  are  sundry  papers  on  file  presented  to  them. 
Among  these  are  the  two  following  of  some  interest  to  us : 

''October  ye  6th,  1759. — This  may  certifie  whomsoever  it  may  Concern, 


33 

that  the  Land  Between  Leominster,  Leuningburg  and  Narrowgassett  No. 
2,  and  as  far  as  the  Potash  Farm,  is  Chiefly  uninhabitable,  and  very  bad 
land,  and  no  waye  fit  but  for  a  very  few  Inhabitants. 
Test  our  hands : 

EZRA  HOUGHTON, 
JONATHAN  WILDER. 


Lancester,  October  7th,  1759. 
These  may  certifie  that  the  Lands  north  of  the  farm  Called  Potash  Farm, 
betwixt  Leominster  and  Narragansett,  is  Generally  Rough  Land,  and  will 
admit  of  but  few  Good  Settlements.        Atts  : 

JOSEPH  WILDER, 
JOHN  BENNIT. 
N.  B. — The  above  subscribers  were  the  gentlemen  that  layed  out  the 
above-mentioned  Lands  and  assisted  in  Dividing  them." 

I  apprehend  much  of  this  controversy  turned  upon  the 
so  often  vexing  question  to  towns  of  the  centre. 

The  final  result  was,  that  on  the  20th  of  October,  one 
hundred  years  ago,  the  act  which  occasions  our  festivities, 
received  the  consent  of  the  Royal  Governor,  and  incorpo- 
i-ated  the  town  with  precisely  the  same  bounds  asked  for  by 
Houghton  and  others,  and  according  to  the  plan  presented 
by  them.  Looking  back  through  all  this  period,  over  our 
history,  not  one  here  doubts,  that  in  putting  these  two 
sections  together  in  a  well-shaped  and  substantial  town,  the 
law  makers  did  wisely  and  happily.  The  fears  of  the 
southern  section,  that  if  joined  to  the  north  they  should 
"  always  live  in  trouble  and  difficulty,"  and  which  led  them 
in  the  heat  of  controversy  to  say,  that  they  "had 
rather  have  one-quarter  of  their  real  estate  taken  from 
them  than  be  obliged  "  to  do  so,  were  speedily  dissipated. 
From  that  day  to  this,  never  has  a  town  been  more  free 
from  sectional  strife  or  division.  Were  yon  now  to 
propose  to  separate  the  two  original  divisions,  if  any 
mortal  man  could  find  the  line,  you  would  stir  up  a  thou- 
sand fold  deeper,  more  protracted,  and  bitter  struggle 
than  that  which  brought  them  together.  If  there  be  one 
common  feeling  of  joy  to-day,  it  is  that  we  are  citizens  of 
a  common  town.  And  I  trust  we  mean  to  remain  so,  as 
5 


34 

long  as  Wachusett,  our  common  inheritance,  looks  down 
upon  a  town  at  all. 

The  act  of  1759  made  the  territory,  in  name,  a  district ; 
but  in  its  own  language,  invested  it  "with  all  the  privi- 
leges, powers  and  immunities  that  towns  in  the  Province 
did,  or  might  enjoy,  that  of  sending  a  Representative  to 
the  General  Assembly  only  excepted."  They  had  a  right 
to  send  an  agent  to  the  General  Court,  a  right  which  they 
soon  after  exercised. 

Early  in  the  history  of  Rutland  East  Wing,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Prince,  colleague  pastor  of  the  old  South  Church, 
Boston,  became  a  large  proprietor,  owning  five  of  the 
thirty-three  shares.  His  interest  was,  probably,  at  a  later 
period,  larger.  For  this  reason,  and  in  respect  to  him, 
possibly  to  smooth  matters  a  little  with  the  Rutland  oppo- 
sition, the  town  was  named  Prince  Town,  a  name  which  the 
act  of  1771  contracted  to  Princeton. 

The  first  town  meeting  was  l^eld,  and  the  town  organized 
by  the  choice  of  the  necessary  officers,  on  the  24th  of 
December,  1759.  This  meeting  was  at  the  tavern  of  Abijah 
Moore,  where  all  subsequent  ones  were  held,  until  the 
meeting-house  was  boarded  and  partially  finished,  in  May, 
1763.  The  records  of  the  first  meetings  are  gone  from  the 
record  book,  but  it  appears,  from  documents,  that  Dr.  Zach- 
ariah  Harvey  was  the  first  Town  Clerk.  At  this  time  he 
occupied,!  judge,  the  most  prominent  and  influential  position 
in  town.  The  petition  for  incorporation  is  in  his  hand- 
writing. He  had  come  here,  not  long  before,  from  that 
part  of  Shrewsbury  then  called  the  Leg,  and  which  lies 
along  our  eastern  border,  now  a  part  of  Sterling,  and 
resided  on  the  farm  more  recently  owned  and  occupied  by 
Deacon  Ebenezer  Parker. 

The  first  town  meeting  of  which  a  record  exists,  was  in 
March,  1761.  Dr.  Harvey  was  chosen  Moderator,  District 
Clerk,  Chairman  of  the  Selectmen,  Chairman  of  the  Assess- 
ors, and  Agent  to  the  General  Court,  a  plurality  of  offices, 
I  think,  never  since  held  by  one  person.     There  seems  to 


35 

have  been  no  little  trouble  and  commotion  at  this  meeting, 
more,  by  much,  I  apprehend,  than  has  ever  occurred  at 
any  of  its  successors.  There  is  a  protest  upon  the  records, 
signed  by  eight  persons,  declaring  the  proceedings  illegal, 
"  by  reason  of  the  meeting  not  being  purged  from  such 
persons,  or  voters,  as  are  unqualified  by  law  to  vote." 

But  the  matter  did  not  end  here.  The  same  March,  a 
long  memorial  was  sent  to  the  General  Court,  by  these  and 
other  persons,  setting  forth  that  there  were,  at  this  meeting, 
^'  several  votes  and  transactions  altogether  illegal  and 
unwarrantable,  and  unfairly  and  unduly  obtained  by  means 
of  many  persons  being  admitted  to  vote  at  said  meeting, 
that  were  not  legal  voters  there,  and  some  that  were  not 
even  inhabitants  of  the  same."  They  go  on,  in  very  plain 
terms,  to  charge  the  Doctor  with  pretty  high-handed  and 
rather  awkward  measures,  and  ask  to  have  the  pro- 
ceedings declared  void,  and  another  meeting  called  and 
new  officers  chosen. 

The  Doctor  was  called  upon  by  the  General  Court,  "  to 
render  an  account  of  the  proceedings  complained  of."  He 
filed  his  answer,  which  is  missing,  so  that  we  loose  his 
version  of  the  matter.  The  decision  was  in  his  favor,  and 
the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  were  ratified  and 
confirmed. 

At  the  incorporation,  few  roads  existed.  The  first  of 
which  I  can  find  any  trace,  was,  I  suppose,  a  Province  road, 
from  Lancaster  to  Sunderland.  There  is  a  map  of  it  in  the 
State  archives.  It  ran  along  the  north-east  line  of  the 
town,  crossing  the  edge  of  Wachusett  pond,  in  Westmin- 
ster. The  distance  by  it,  as  stated  on  the  plan,  from  Lan- 
caster meeting-house  to  Wachusett  pond,  is  eleven  miles. 
This  road  was  in  existence  as  early  as  1735,  when  a  grant 
of  land  was  made  to  Samuel  Kneeland,  on  each  side  of  it 
and  near  the  pond. 

The  road,  I  think,  also  existed  through  town  to  Hub- 
bardston.  The  first  road,  apparently,  built  by  the  town, 
was  that  from  Westminster  line  by  Mr.  John  P.  Rice's,  over 


36 

Meeting-House  Hill  to  Holden.  This  was  in  1762.  Upon 
a  map  of  the  town,  taken  as  late  as  1793,  and  filed  with  the 
Secretary  of  State,  there  are  laid  down  only  these  three 
roads.  Probably  most  of  the  early  roads  were  made  by  a 
tax,  "worked  out''  upon  them,  as  they  have  been  repaired 
ever  since. 

Originally,  towns  were  incorporated,  as  a  general  rule, 
whenever  the  territory  could  support  a  gospel  ministry. 
Hence,  the  representations  in  this  respect,  in  the  petitions 
I  have  cited.  This  became,  therefore,  at  once  the  legal 
duty  of  the  town,  and  early  measures  were  taken  to  erect 
a  meeting-house  and  settle  a  minister.  Instantly  there 
came  up  this  exciting  question  of  the  centre,  so  distressing 
always  in  our  towns.  Several  meetings  were  held  upon 
this  trying  subject.  First,  the  house  was  located ;  then  a 
vote  revoking  this  ,*  then  a  committee  from  Bolton,  Holden 
and  Westminster,  were  appointed,  with  a  surveyor  from 
Rutland,  and  one  from  Westboro,  all  to  "  be  under  oath  for 
the  trust  committed  to  them,  to  survey  the  town,  find  the 
centre,  and  affix  the  place  for  building  the  meeting-house 
on."  Of  what  this  sworn  committee  reported,  we  unfor- 
tunately have  no  record.  The  town  refused  to  accept 
it,  and  finally  voted  to  locate  the  house  "  on  the  highest 
part  of  the  land  given  by  John  and  Caleb  Mirick,  near 
three  pine  trees,  marked,  being  near  a  large  flat  rock," — the 
site  upon  Meeting-House  Hill,  with  which  they  began. 

Here,  in  1762,  the  first  church  was  reared,  as  the  record 
has  it,  "fifty  foots  long  and  forty  foots  wide." 

*'  Scarce  steal  the  winds,  that  sweep  his  woodland  tracks, 

The  larch's  perfume  from  the  settler's  axe, 

Ere,  like  a  vision  of  the  morning  air, 

His  slight  framed  steeple  marks  the  house  of  prayer  ; 

Its  planks  all  reeking,  and  its  paint  undried  ; 

Its  rafters  sprouting  on  the  shady  side. 

It  sheds  the  raindrops  from  its  shingled  eaves 

Ere  its  green  brothers  once  have  changed  their  leaves, — 

Yet  faith's  pure  hymn,  beneath  its  shelter  rude, 

Breathes  out  as  sweetly  to  the  tangled  wood, 


37 

As  when  the  rays  thro'  Mazing  oriels  pour 

On  marble  shaft  and  tessellated  floor  ; 

Heaven  asks  no  surplice  round  the  heart  that  feels, 

And  all  is  holy  where  devotion  kneels." 

Our  fathers  were  religious  men,  and  long  before  the 
building  of  the  meeting-house,  maintained  religious  worship 
portions  of  the  year,  in  private  dwellings,  in  different  parts 
of  the  territory.  The  first  sermon  ever  preached  within 
our  limits  was  at  the  tavern  of  Lieut.  Moore,  to  an  audience 
which  a  single  room  held.  An  old  lady  living  in  1838,  told 
me  she  remembered  hearing  a  sermon  preached  there, 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Harrington,  of  Lancaster,  in  1759,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  District's  incorporation.  *'  There  were  then 
but  a  handful  of  us,"  said  she,  "who  found  our  way  to 
church  by  marked  trees." 

In  1767,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fuller  was  settled,  the  first  minis- 
ter of  the  town.  In  1768,  upon  his  petition,  in  considera- 
tion of  this,  his  settlement,  with  a  heavily  burdened  people, 
in  what  he  there  terms  "  a  wilderness  conniry,"  the  General 
Court  granted  him  Wachusett,  and  the  mountain  thus 
passed  to  private  hands.  Mr.  Fuller  was  dismissed  at  the 
opening  of  the  Revolution,  from  difficulties  between  him 
and  his  people,  growing  out  of  that  great  conflict. 

I  do  not  propose  to  trace  any  history  of  the  town  much 
beyond  the  point  I  have  reached,  and  especially  I  do  not 
the  ecclesiastical.  Since  Mr.  Fuller's  day,  religious  contro- 
versies have  existed,  that  are  happily  buried  in  the  past. 
I  have  the  charity  to  believe,  what  it  is  but  justice  I  should 
say,  that  they  have  all  originated  in  deep  convictions  of 
truth,  and  a  sincere  and  earnest  desire  to  promote  it.  Some- 
times, perhaps,  the  differences  have  been  greater.in  appear- 
ance than  in  reality.  Parties  starting,  like  the  streams 
from  our  mountain,  have  for  a  time  followed  in  opposite 
courses,  only  to  find  themsleves  at  last  in  a  common  ocean. 
To-day,  at  least,  we  look  back  on  all  these  scenes,  as  the 
sun  looks  on  the  sea,  to  draw  up  thence  all  that  is  pure, 
and  sweet,  and  invigorating,  while  it  leaves  all  that  is  salt 


38 

and  bitter  behind.  We  are  not  the  less  attached,  as 
townsmen,  because  the  love  of  a  common  Savior  con- 
straineth  us,  in  his  service,  to  adopt  different  denomina- 
tional forms  or  creeds. 

In  1771,  an  additional  act  waspassed,  by  which  the  gore, 
of  three  thousand  acres,  known  in  after  years  as  No-Town, 
was  annexed  to  the  town.  To  this  addition  the  town 
objected,  and  the  next  year  petitioned  the  General  Court, 
setting  forth  that  this  was  a  "  strip  of  land  extending  a 
great  way  from  the  centre,  where  the  meeting-house  stands, 
and  that  the  inhabitants  were  poor  and  unable  to  make 
roads,  and  praying  it  may  be  set  off  again."  Upon  this 
petition,  in  1773,  an  act  was  passed,  setting  off  from  the 
town  all  the  lands  which  did  not  belong  to  the  district ;  so 
that  the  limits  of  the  town  became  precisely  the  same 
under  the  acts  of  1771  and  1773,  that  they  were  in  1759. 
Not  a  foot  was  permanently  added.  The  map  filed  in  1793, 
is  identical  with  the  plan  of  1759.  The  only  additions 
since  made  are  five  hundred  acres  from  Hubbardston,  in 
1810,  and  a  like  area  from  No-Town,  in  1838.  None  has 
been  taken  off,  so  that  the  present  area  is  about  twenty 
thousand  acres. 

Of  the  history  subsequent  to  the  act  of  1771,  I  have  no 
time  to  speak  in  detail.  From  that  period  to  the  present, 
as  already  observed,  the  changes  peculiar  to  the  town  and 
distinct  from  those  resulting  merely  from  participation  in 
the  general  progress,  have  been  less  than  in  most  towns. 
It  was,  and  still  is,  purely  an  agricultural  town.  Its  popu- 
lation in  numbers,  has  been  about  the  same  for  half  a 
century.  Its  growth,  prior  to  that  time,  was  considerable. 
The  venerable  historian  of  Worcester  County,  in  1793,  says: 
''  In  little  more  than  thirty  years  from  its  incorporation, 
Princeton  is  become  very  considerable  among  the  towns  of 
the  County.  It  has  surprisingly  increased  in  number  and 
wealth.  The  finest  of  beef,"  he  adds,  "  is  fatted  here,  and 
vast  quantities  of  butter  and  cheese  produced,  and  from 
the  appearance  of  their  buildings  and  farms,  we  must  judge 


39 

the  people  are  very  industrious ; "  and  he  closes  a  glowing 
description  of  the  seat  of  Hon.  Moses  Gill,  thus :  "  Upon 
the  whole,  this  seat  of  Judge  Gill,  all  the  agreeable  circum- 
stances respecting  it  being  attentively  considered,  is  not 
paralleled  by  any  in  the  New  England  States  ;  perhaps  not 
by  any  on  this  side  of  the  Delaware."  The  President  of 
Yale  College,  Dr.  Dwight,  in  1797,  speaks  of  Princeton  as 
a  rich  grazing  township,  and  adds,  "  the  houses  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  the  appearance  of  their  farms,  are  sufficient 
indications  of  prosperity,  and  tHe  people  are  distinguished 
for  industry,  sobriety  and  sound  morals."  He  also  speaks 
of  Governor  Gill's  establishment  "as  more  splendid  than  any 
other  in  the  interior  of  the  State  ; "  and  he  adds  what 
impresses  us  with  the  character  of  the  surrounding  country 
even  then,  that  in  attempting  to  make  his  way  to  Rutland, 
"  he  came  very  near  being  lost  for  the  night." 

In  1771,  there  were  in  town  ninety-one  dwelling-houses, 
while  in  1790  there  were  one  hundred  and  forty-four.  At 
the  former  period  there  were  but  one  hundred  eighty-three 
and  three-fourths  acres  of  tillage  land  out  of  the  whole 
twenty  thousand,  and  but  one  thousand  and  eighty-three 
of  pasture.  But  little  mo're  than  one-twentieth  of  the  land 
had  been  subdued,  and  but  a  mere  fraction  brought  into 
cultivation. 

There  is  one  other  fact  revealed  by  the  valuation  of  1771, 
on  file  at  the  Capitol,  which  may  astonish  some  who  hear 
me,  and  which  makes  a  heaven-wide  difference  between 
those  days  and  ours.  There  was  upon  these  mountain 
heights,  now  all  vocal  with  shouts  of  freedom  for  the  op- 
pressed, and  denunciation  upon  the  oppressor,  then  owned 
and  dwelling,  a  slave— one  of  the  few  in  the  Province. 
Slavery  has  existed  at  the  base  of  Wachusett.  The  slave's 
foot  has  pressed  our  soil,  and  the  shackles  did  not  fall. 

The  number  of  dwelling-houses  here  in  1800  were  but 
four  more  than  in  1790,  while  the  population  in  1810  had 
increased  only  forty-six  over  that  of  1790,  and  probably  at 
this  moment,  after  nearly  seventy  years,  does  not  exceed 


40 

it  by  more  than  two  hundred.  Nor  has  the  character  of 
the  people  changed.  Sons  have  succeeded  fathers  on  the 
old  homesteads,  and  worthily  maintained  the  family  name 
and  honor.  Were  it  not  a  little  out  of  taste  in  their  pres- 
ence, I  should  add,  were  the  historian  of  Worcester  County, 
or  the  President  of  Yale  again  to  pass  this  way,  they  would 
transfer  to  the  sons  the  language  applied  to  the  fathers. 

Perhaps  the  most  marked  change  of  the  century,  or  even 
the  last  fifty  years,  is  the  disappearance  of  the  forest. 
One  returning  here  to-day,  after  a  quarter  of  a  century's 
absence,  will  miss  first  and  most  the  immense  tracts  of 
primeval  wood-land  he  used  to  see.  Next  to  this  absence,  he 
will  note  a  new  presence,  that  of  hundreds,  of  late  years, 
resorting  here  in  the  Summer  season.  The  forests  have 
gone,  and  the  fashionables  have  come.  And  although 
eveny  gipsy  hat  and  fluttering  ribbon  along  our  highways, 
from  June  to  September,  is  a  sweet  exotic,  we  would  not 
spare,  we  cannot  help  an  occasional  regret,  that  the  axe 
has  carried  its  warfare  so  unrelentingly,  and  that  the  wood- 
man has  not  here  and  there  spared  a  tree,  a  remembrance 
of  days  lang  syne,  and  a  blessing  and  a  beauty  for  days  to 
come. 

When  I  speak  of  slight  changes,  I  mean,  as  1  have  said, 
those  special  and  peculiar  to  the  town.  In  those  that  have 
come  from  the  stupendous  progress  of  the  century  and  the 
country,  it  has  shared  to  the  full  measure  of  the  towns  in 
the  Commonwealth.  Our  fathers,  from  the  days  when  they 
served  under  a  King,  to  those  when,  in  town  meeting,  they 
could  arraign  a  President,  have  gone  along  in  full  sympa- 
thy with  every  great  and  good  movement  around  them. 
Pioneers,  they  opened  the  forest,  and  planted  civilization  in 
its  depths.  They  made  roads,  and  built  churches.  They 
subdued  lands,  and  reared  school-houses.  Not  in  advance 
of,  but  never  behind,  their  fellow  citizens,  they  shrank 
from  no  duty.  From  the  first  gathering  of  their  children 
to  be  taught  in  a  private  school,  to  the  voting  of  the  last 
dollar  for   schooling,  they  maintained    their  educational 


41 

institutions,  as  you  have  maintained  yours,  up  to  the 
standard  of  the  State.  They  and  we  settled  ministers,  and 
they  became  unsettled,  and  singularly,  not  one  in  the  whole 
century,  in  any  denomination,  has  died  in  the  occupancy 
of  a  pulpit.  And  yet,  what  adds  to  the  singularity,  but  just 
one  has  been  involuntarily  dismissed,  and  each  has  held  his 
place  up  to  the  average  ministerial  tenure  of  his  time  and 
denomination.  The  fathers  and  the  sons,  in  matters  eccle- 
siastical, have  had  their  divisions  and  their  controversies, 
sometimes  the  outbreak  of  a  pervading  change  in  the  com- 
munity, sometimes  special  to  themselves ;  but  they  have 
never  failed  to  give  the  institutions  of  the  gospel  an  open, 
earnest  and  unwavering  support,  from  the  day,  uniting  all 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  great  Genevan  reformer,  they  gave 
Mr.  Goodrich  a  call,  to  that  when  the  conscientious  sym- 
pathies of  some  led  them  to  prefer  to  the  elder  faith  the 
communion  of  that  great  church  Wesley  founded,  Whitfield 
honored,  and  good  men  everywhere  respect  and  love. 

In  all  the  great  struggles  that  have  wrought  out  and 
distinguished  our  country's  history,  the  people  of  our 
town  have  been  intelligent,  early  and  active  participants. 
They  fought  the  preparatory  battles  of  freedom  with  their 
King  against  the  French,  and  they  fought  its  actual  battles 
with  the  French  against  their  King.  Their  records  show 
them  to  have  been  early,  constant  and  discriminating  sup- 
porters of  all  the  measures  of  the  Revolution,  from  its  faint 
rising  to  its  glorious  consummation.  On  two  occasions,  at 
least,  their  action  was  of  character  and  importance  enough 
to  secure  honorable  mention  by  the  latest  and  ablest  of  the 
historians  of  the  United  States.  The  features  of  numbers  of 
revolutionary  pensioners  are  too  distinctly  impressed  upon 
our  memories  to  require  the  details  of  services  in  this 
war. 

They  voted  for  our  State  Constitution.     With  a  love  for 

State  sovereignty  too  ardent  to  leave  the  judgment  clear 

and  perfect,  they  opposed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 

States  when  proposed.     With  a  patriotism  too  large  and 

6 


42 

judicious  to  yield  right  to  consistency,  when  adopted  they 
supported  and  sustained  it. 

Prior  to  this,  many  of  them  sympathized,  and  some 
joined  in  "  Shay's  rebelHon,''  and  one,  if  the  truth  must  out, 
came  nearer  being  hanged  than  I  hope  any  one  else  from 
the  town  ever  will  lor  a  like  or  any  cause. 

But  I  must  pause.  Our  Thanksgiving  has  other  ser- 
vices, which  exhausted  nature  already  reminds  us  we  are 
under  solemn  obligations  to  perform.  If  I  began  while 
the  dinner  was  cooking,  I  am  continuing  while  it  is  waiting. 
Let  me  incur  no  such  weighty  responsibility. 

We  have  come  up  here  from  our  homes  and  occupations, 
to  revive  associations,  to  renew  acquaintances,  to  promote 
kindly  feelings,  to  strengthen  affections,  brighten  sympa- 
thies, and  draw  tighter  the  cords  of  love  that  bind  us  to 
the  old  family  home  and  fireside. 

The  past  and  present  here  unite 

Beneath  time's  flowing  tide, 
Like  footprints  hidden  by  a  brook, 

But  seen  on  either  side. 

As  I  have  sketched  the  days  long  gone,  and  sought  to 

"  Review  the  scenes, 
And  summon  from  the  shadowy  past 
The  forms  that  once  have  been," 

I  have  only  followed  the  necessities  of  the  occasion,  and 
hope  my  rude  and  homely  attempt  may  draw  some  charm 
from  it. 

And  now,  as  we  look  upon  what  our  eyes  behold ;  upon 
these  free  hills  and  valleys,  robed  in  the  resplendent  beau- 
ties of  Autumn ;  upon  these  farms,  from  which  the  teeming 
harvests  have  just  been  gathered  and  garnered ;  upon 
these  houses  of  comfort  and  plenty ;  these  homes  of  con- 
tentment and  love  ;  these  churches,  reared  for  the  service 
of  God,  and  these  schools  for  the  education  of  man ;  upon 
this  prosperous,  moral  and  happy  people;  and  then  upon 
the  Commonwealth  and  common  Country,  that  hold  over  it 


43 

the  shield  of  their  power  and  protection,  we  bend  in 
grateful  homage  before  the  Divine  author  of  it  all,  exclaim- 
ing, "  surely,  the  lines  have  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places, 
and  we  have  a  goodly  heritage." 

But  this  anniversary  has  its  lesson.  As  we  stand  scan- 
ning others,  so  others,  hereafter,  will  stand  to  scan  us. 
While  we  are  relating  the  past  of  municipal  history,  we 
are  making  the  present. 

For  the  structure  that  we  raise 

Time  is  with  materials  filled  ; 
Our  to-days  and  yesterdays 

Are  the  blocks  with  which  we  build. 

Truly  shape  and  fashion  these, 

Leave  no  yawning  gaps  between  ; 
Think  not,  because  no  man  sees, 

Such  things  will  remain  unseen. 

Build  to-day,  then,  strong  and  sure, 

With  a  firm  and  ample  base,    • 
And  ascending  and  secure 

Shall  to-morrow  find  its  place. 


PROGRESS; 

A    P  0  E  M  . 
BY    ERASTUS    EVERETT,    A.    M., 

OF  BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


The  annual  bells  have  rung  their  hundredth  chime 
Since  thou,  0  !  Princeton,  wast  ushered  into  time. 
All  hail,  old  Princeton  !    To  childhood's  earliest  home 
Thy  noble  eons  and  virtuous  daughters  come. 
From  w^here  yon  lake  reflects  the  forests  green, 
In  whose  pure  depths  the  mirrored  hills  are  seen, 

1  From  where  young  Nashua's  silver  fountain  flows, 

2  Or  where  Pine  Hill  his  lengthened  shadow  throws, 
From  where  thy  Boylston's  princely  villa  lies. 

Or  Brook's  fields  salute  the  eastern  skies, 
sWhere  dwelt  thy  Gill  in  magisterial  state. 
And  taught  thy  sons  what  virtues  make  us  great 
From  where  thy  churches'  modest  spires  ascend, 
And  warn  us  all  to  seek  in  Heaven  a  friend ; 
Come  from  thy  utmost  borders,  here  we  stand 
And,  brethren  all,  each  grasps  a  brother's  hand. 
A  few  have  roved  in  distant  lands  away 
From  where  their  infant  eyes  first  saw  the  day, — 
To  Hampshire's  mountains  clad  in  ice  and  snow. 
To  western  wilds  where  lurks  the  savage  foe. 
To  southern  lands  where  glows  a  burning  sky 
And  sugared  fruits  in  wild  profusion  lie. 
And  they  too  bid  thee  hail !    They  too  are  come, 
Thy  truant  sons  and  daughters,  welcomed  home, 
From  prairie,  hill  and  vale  assembled  here 
To  celebrate  with  thee  thy  Hundredth  Year. 

Though  winds  blow  fierce  from  many  a  woody  steep, 
And  wintry  storms  their  boisterous  revels  keep, 
Though  late  the  snow  doth  in  the  furrow  lie 


45 


'i  And  dwarfish  Fall- flowers  prematurely  die, 
O'er  this  loved  spot  afiections  linger  still 
^.nd  fondly  cluster  round  Wachusett  Hill. 

Progress  I  sing  : — my  muse  assist  the  lay, — 
Allied  the  theme  to  this  auspicious  day. 

A  time  there  was,  when  all  the  vast  domain 
Of  hill  and  valley,  woodland,  lake  and  plain, 
From  where  Katahdin  rears  his  awful  head, 
(By  him  Penobscot's  gelid  springs  are  fed) 
To  modern  Ophir,  California's  strand. 
Whose  rivers  flow  in  beds  of  golden  sand. 
From  where  the  wind-god  rules  the  stormy  North 
And  clothes  in  icy  mail  the  frozen  earth. 
To  where  the  groves  in  living  green  appear 
And  Spring  and  Summer  share  the  equal  year, — 
When  all  this  land  so  fruitful  and  so  fair, 
Alike  the  patriot's  pride  and  patriot's  care, 
Was  one  vast  haunt  of  savage  beasts  of  prey 
And  Indian  warriors  fiercer  still  than  they, 
Algonquins  and  Iroquois  of  various  name 
Roamed  far  and  wide  and  chased  the  antlered  game. 
Rude  Art  had  taught  to  bend  the  supple  yew, — 
From  birchen  bark  to  form  the  light  canoe  ; 
With  that  they  learned  the  furry  bear  to  slay  ; 
With  this  from  lakes  to  tempt  the  finny  prey. 
All  this  they  took  as  Nature  freely  gave 
In  ignorance  content  no  more  to  crave. 
The  kindly  earth  afibrded  tuberous  roots, 
Ceres  spontaneous,  yielded  bearded  fruits. 
Kind  Nature  thus  supplied  the  place  of  Art 
And  made  provision  for  the  grosser  part. 
But  no  provision  made  or  care  had  given 
For  that  which  makes  us  men  and  heirs  of  heaven. 

5  Nor  must  we  fancy  this  the  golden  age, 
With  which  the  poets  fill  the  mythic  page. 
When  acorns  were  the  simple  shepherd's  food 
And  blissful  ignorance  taught  him  naught  but  good. 
The  savage  bosom  heaved  with  passions  dire. 
With  malice,  hate,  revenge  and  deadly  ire. 
Nor  men  in  arms  alone  the  foe  engaged  : 
'Gainst  age  and  sex  the  fiendish  warfare  raged. 
The  hoary  sire  that  in  his  arm-chair  dozed, 
The  tender  babe  that  in  its  crib  reposed. 
Matron  and  maid  in  mingled  slaughter  bled 
And  swelled  the  list  of  prematurely  dead. 


46 

The  captive  little  cause  of  joy  they  gave, 
Doomed  to  a  life  more  dreadful  than  the  grave. 
Dire  was  his  punishment :  for  who  can  tell 
The  tortures  practised  by  these  hounds  of  hell ! 
Not  Nero's  hate  or  Herod's  jealous  rage, 
Which  stain  with  blood  the  classic  Gibbon's  page, 
Not  Britain's  Queen  whose  frequent  fagots,  burned 
Round  Smithfield's  stake,  her  "  Bloody  "  title  earned, 
Where  Ridley,  Latimer  and  Cranmer  bled, 
Immortal  trio  of  the  martyred  dead, 
Contrived  the  tortures  ingeniously  severe 
Which  in  our  early  Indian  wars  appear. 

Nor  then,  loved  Princeton,  was  thy  rude  domain. 
Where  Peace,  Content  and  Industry  now  reign. 
Free  from  the  savage  foe  that  nightly  prowled 
More  fierce  than  famished  wolyes  that  round  him  howled. 
On  th'  eastern  slope  whence  old  Wachusett  swells, 
6  A  little  girl  (for  so  tradition  tells) 
Had  strayed  from  home,  what  time  th'  autumnal  blast 
Had  strewn  the  frozen  ground  with  golden  mast 
And  dapple  squirrel's  merry  bark  did  tell 
The  huntsmen  where  his  kindred  loved  to  dwell. 
Still  lured  along  by  objects  strange  and  wild. 
Many  such  objects  lured  the  simple  child, 
An  Indian's  feathered  plume  she  sudden  spies 
And  echo  answers  to  her  frantic  cries. 
Around  her  head  the  threatening  hatchet  gleams 
And  tears  and  sobs  succeed  to  childish  screams. 
The  neighbors  came  from  all  the  country  round, 
Resolved  the  little  wanderer  should  be  found. 
They  formed  a  circle,  toward  the  centre  drew. 
And  gave  from  time  to  time  the  loud  halloo. 
They  searched  each  bush,  nook,  thicket,  hollow  tree, 
Where'er,  by  chance,  a  little  child  might  be  ; 
Prolonged  the  search,  nor  ceased  from  day  to  day. 
Till  the  last,  lingering  hope  had  died  away. 
Surmises  horrible  filled  each  anxious  breast. 
Surmises  long  indulged  and  then  expressed  : 
She  lived — had  gone  'mong  savage  tribes  to  dwell  r — 
All  else  conjecture  : — the  sequel  none  could  tell. 
Some  said  she  waded  through  Canadian  snows 
To  where  St.  Laurent's  mighty  current  flows  ; 
Some  said  she  pined,  a  captive,  'neath  the  skies 
Where  Saratoga's  healing  waters  rise, 
T"  Or  hoarse  Niagara  in  thunder  roars 
And  down  the  abyss  the  ceaseless  torrent  pours. 
Her  stricken  father  travelled  far  and  near 


^7 

As  rumours  various  reached  his  eager  ear  ; 
But  rumours  vain  no  certain  tidings  gave 
And  he  forgot  his  sorrovrs  in  the  grave. 

When  but  a  child,  I  heard  my  mother  say 
How  thou,  fair  Row^landson ,  v^ast  driven  away. 
Pity  and  rage  by  turns  my  bosom  stirred 
As  I  the  horrors  of  thy  story  heard. 

She  wandered  on  with  painful  steps  and  slow, 
And  marked  with  crimson  dye  the  virgin  snow. 
Methinks  I  hear  her  pray  with  stifled  breath, 
"  0  !  God  when  wilt  thou  grant  relief  in  death?  " 
The  night  is  darkest  just  before  the  day  ; 
Th'  all-seeing  One  watched  o'er  her  weary  way, 
Brought  help  from  far  his  cherished  child  to  save 
And  granted  life  to  one  who  asked  a  grave. 

8  Concord's  illustrious  son  the  ransom  paid 

On  that  high  rock  where  we  in  childhood  played  ; 
Near  Graves'  swamp  where  Frost  his  father  slew — 
Half  idiot  Frost,  the  dread  of  all  he  knew. 

Such  tales  as  these  which  freeze  the  youthful  blood 
The  ancient  annals  of  our  town  record. 
My  soul,  turn  from  them.     'Tis  well  we  change  the  lay 
From  this  dark  race  that  long  hath  passed  away. 
No  council  fires  now  shed  their  fitful  flame 
Or  mothers  hush  their  babes  with  Philip's  name. 

Genoa's  Pilot  launched  from  Palos'  shore, 
Through  unknown  seas  his  timid  followers  bore, 
On  Guanahani's  coast  his  flag  unfurled 
And  gave  to  Castile's  Queen  another  world. 
Cabot  came  next,  Caboto  rightly  named. 
In  Venice  born — Venice  for  beauty  famed. 
Amerigo  Vespucci  next  we  see. 
Born  at  fair  Florence — Italians  all  the  three. 
This  last  the  land  admired  and  filled  his  page 
With  fabled  splendors  of  the  golden  age. 
Bright  golden  fishes  in  the  waters  played 
And  gold- winged  warblers  flitted  through  the  glade  : 
The  waters  flowed  in  beds  of  golden  sand 
And  hills  of  gold  o'erlooked  the  happy  land. 
The  waving  palms  in  living  green  were  dressed, 
Whose  fruits  ran  nectar  ere  the  lip  had  pressed. 
Green  sunny  seas  the  sunny  shores  did  lave 
And  Nature  furnished  more  than  man  could  crave. 

9  The  Tuscan  thus  filled  Europe  with  his  fame 
And  this  vast  continent  received  his  name. 


48 


De  Soto  first  dtailk  Mississippi's  wave 

And  in  its  turbid  waters  found  a  grave. 

All  gallant  Raleigh's  cruel  f^te  bemoaned 

Who  on  the  block  for  fancied  crimes  atoned. 

Hudson  saw  first  Manhattan's  azure  skies, 

"Where  now  a  thousand  marble  mansions  rise  ; 

There  sculptured  piles  the  distant  prospect  bound, 

There  Mammon's  self  his  favorite  seat  hath  found 

And  Wall-street  stands  confessed,  his  consecrated  ground. 

But  who  shall  fitly  name  the  Pilgrim  band, 
That  launched  their  ship  from  low  Batavia's  strand, 
Ploughed  the  dark  sea,  nor  feared  the  stormy  flood 
Which  bore  them  nearer  to  their  equal  God  ! 

*'  The  breaking  waves  dashed  high 

On  a  stern  and  rock-bound  coast, 
And  the  woods  against  a  stormy  sky  , 

Their  giant  branches  tossed  : 

And  the  heavy  night  hung  dark 

The  hills  and  waters  o'er. 
When  a  band  of  exiles  moored  their  bark 

On  the  wild  New-England  shore. ' ' 

Thus  Hemans  sung  sublime  and  swept  the  lyre 
Divinely  wild, — her  lips  were  touched  with  fire— 
And  who  shall  dare,  presumptuous,  to  explore 
The  upward  path  which  she  hath  trod  before  ? 
,  10  Our  fathers  planted  here  'mid  ice  and  snow 
A  fruitful  vine  which  hath  not  ceased  to  grow. 
O'er  hill  and  vale  it  shoots  its  leafy  boughs 
And  distant  nations  'neath  its  shade  repose. 

Then  first  the  axe  through  ancient  forests  rung, 
Forests  grown  old  ere  yet  blind  Homer  sung  ; 
The  sturdy  woodman,  doubling  stroke  on  stroke. 
Laid  low  the  towering  pine  and  knotted  oak  ; 
The  giant  trunks  in  blackened  ruins  lay 
And  purblind  monsters,  frightened,  fled  the  day  ; 
Earth's  bosom  heaved  with  elemental  strife 
And  teemed  with  a  thousand  novel  forms  of  life. 
Man  o'er  th'  Atlantic  brought  the  noble  steed 
Which  on  Granada's  plains  was  wont  to  feed. 
Taught  the  proud  charger  of  th'  embattled  field 
To  the  mild  yoke  his  patient  neck  to  yield. 
With  daily  toil  to  aid  the  laboring  train 


49 


And  fit  the  earth  to  yield  the  yellow  grain. 

11  Such  thine,  0  !  Harrington,  which  we  oft  have  seen 
Where  mustering  troops  moved  o'er  yon  shaven  green. 
When  the  shrill  clarion  rent  the  crystal  sky 

To  tell  the  host  the  mimic  fight  was  nigh. 

His  burning  nostrils  wide  and  streaming  mane, 

Th'  impatient  bit  which  spurned  the  tightened  rein, 

12  His  neck  with  thunder  clothed  and  eye  of  fire, 
Left  us  in  doubt  if  most  we  should  admire 

The  haughty  grace  with  which  the  charger  trod 
Or  practised  skill  with  which  the  master  rode. 
Each  thrifty  farmer  with  his  neighbor  vied. 
By  patient  implements  the  sod  was  plied  ; 
Exotic  shrubs  adorned  the  gay  parterre, 
Exotic  flowers  perfumed  the  morning  air  ; 
The  moss-rose  bloomed  where  once  the  thorn  grew  wild 
And  all  the  land  a  flowery  garden  smiled. 

The  mother  country  a  cruel  step-dame  proved, 
Nor  loved  her  children  but  their  tribute  loved. 
She  taxed  the  luxuries  and  the  wants  of  life, 
She  taxed  the  husband  and  she  taxed  the  wife  ; 
Th'  imported  brandy  and  the  home-brewed  malt, 
The  rich  man's  spices  and  the  poor  man's  salt. 
She  taxed  their  sugar,  (and  she  taxed  their  tea 
Till  Boston  Mohawks  steeped  it  in  the  sea.) 
Hills  piled  on  hills  at  length  the  mountain  form 
Whose  cloud-capped  top  forebodes  the  rising  storm. 
'Neath  such  a  mountain  bound,  the  Titan  strove, 
In  vain,  to  move  the  load  imposed  by  Jove. 
So,  taxes  following  taxes,  one  by  one, 
Grew  mountain  loads  which  made  a  province  groan 
With  giant  throws  the  mountain  heaved  at  length 
And  Britain  knew  the  infant  giant's  strength. 

Where  yon  proud  obelisk  stands  sentinel 
To  guard  the  sacred  graves  of  Bunker's  Hill, 
13 1  used  to  hear  my  aged  kinsmen  say 
"  Balls  flew  like  hailstones,"  that  eventful  day. 
They  in  the  bloody  conflict  bore  a  part ; 
Their  country's  call  had  taught  the  warlike  art. 
Warren  just  saw  the  nation's  rising  sun, 
And,  falling,  died  and  deathless  laurels  won. 
The  day  was  lost,  and  patriots  nobly  bled 
But  called  for  vengeance,  trumpet-tongued  though  dead 
Then  rose  the  mighty  Chief,  for  valor  known 
And  skill  in  war,  and  prudence  all  his  own. 
Biding  his  time,  he  fled  before  his  foes 

7 


50 


As  waves  are  driven  when  the  tempest  blows. 

Sudden  he  turned — when  lo  !  his  foes  dispersed, 

As  clouds  are  riven  when  the  thunders  burst. 

He  taught  the  Briton  'neath  his  eye  to  quail 

And  on  the  Hessian  poured  the  leaden  hail. 

On  Trenton's  plains  the  red-mouthed  cannon  blazed, 

The  hireling  wretches  routed  fled  amazed, 

And  Princeton's  glorious  day  our  fallen  fortunes  raised. 

Across  the  flood  th'  astounding  tidings  sped 

And  hoary  monarchs  trembled  while  they  read. 

Not  greater  panic  seized  Belshazzar's  hall 

When  mene  tekel  was  written  on  the  wall. 

The  thunderbolts  of  war  the  hero  hurled 

And,  conquering,  the  stars  and  stripes  unfurled 

Which  proudly  float  aloft  o'er  every  sea 

And  floating,  flap  the  emblems  of  the  free. 

The  Stars  of  light  guide  up  to  glory's  path. 

The  Stripes  are  emblems  of  the  nation's  wrath. 

We've  chosen  for  our  Arms  the  bird  of  Jove, 

Acknowledged  chief  of  birds  that  soar  above. 

The  Olive  proffers  peace  where'er  it  goes. 

The  Arrows  hurl  defiance  at  our  foes. 

E  Pluribus  proclaims  our  vast  extent . 

JJnum,  the  nature  of  our  Government. 

The  Shield,  our  yeomanry,  unconquered  host, 

Is  still  our  buckler  and  our  country's  boast. 

We  teach  no  arts  but  those  of  peace  and  love 
Brought  by  the  Prince  of  Peace  from  heaven  above. 
Let  Louis  deluge  lands  in  human  blood 
^nd  be,  self  constituted,  the  scourge  of  God ! 
Our  mission  is  to  benefit  mankind 
And,  dying,  leave  a  heritage  of  peace  behind. 
Of  warlike  arts  let  Europeans  boast, 
We  yet  have  art  enough  to  guard  our  coast. 
E'en  if  they  chance  to  land,  they  still  shall  find 
We  have  some  cotton-bales  to  hide  behind. 
Let  their  sharp-shooters  come  with  Minie  ball 
With  our  Sharp's  shooters  we  will  shoot  them  all. 

But  who  shall  sing  the  progress  of  the  State 
In  all  that  makes  a  nation  truly  great  I 
The  Steam-leviathan  holds  his  steady  path, 
Reckless  of  time  or  tide  or  tempest's  wrath  ; 
O'er  the  vast  ocean  speeds  his  trackless  way 
Nor  yet  reposes  in  the  coast-bound  bay  ; 
He  mounts  the  foaming  river  to  its  source 
Before  he  slackens  in  his  onward  course  ; 


51 


And  yet  no  monumental  shaft  doth  rise 
To  tell  the  world  where  Robert  Fulton  lies. 
Railroads,  Briareus-like,  with  hundred  hands 
Bind  thirty  States  and  one  in  iron  bands  : 
O'er  prairie,  river,  valley,  hill  and  plain 
The  iron-horse  speeds  on  his  clattering  train, 
Transports  the  products  of  a  thousand  fields 
Yet  meek  submission  to  his  master  yields. 
Prometheus,  when  he  stole  celestial  fire 
To  light  man's  lifeless  clay,  provoked  Heaven's  ire ; 
Bound  on  a  rock,  condemned,  he  bled 
While  on  his  heart  th'  insatiate  vulture  fed. 
Ah !  mighty  Fabulist,  thou  ill  didst  know 
The  spark  divine  possessed  by  man  below. 
The  Great  Creator  made  him  lord  of  all — 
Animals  and  elements  on  this  earthly  ball. 

14  Who  taught  the  stork  to  wing  her  annual  flight 
Taught  man  to  bring  her  from  her  airy  height. 
Our  Franklin  turned  the  lightning  from  its  way 
And  on  the  kite-string  saw  it  harmless  play. 
Morse,  more  presumptuous  still,  prescribed  its  path 

15  Nor  yet  for  this  incensed  the  heavenly  wrath. 
Field  sent  the  flash  along  the  ocean  bed 

And  through  the  deep  the  royal  message  sped. 
Franklin  was  born  on  Boston's  rounded  height, 
Morse  first  at  classic  Cambridge  saw  the  light, 
Field,  Stock  bridge  proudly  claims  as  all  her  own, 
And  Massachusetts  claims  them  every  one. 

Our  childhood's  joys,  though  blotted  from  the  mind 
Like  stars  from  heaven,  have  left  a  light  behind. 
Ah  !  halc3^on  days,  when  we  went  forth  to  snare 
The  mottled  partridge  and  the  bounding  hare. 
Squirrels  and  birds  to  hunt  each  'Lection- day 
And  every  Summer  spread  the  new-mown  hay. 
In  yonder  lake,  we  took  the  frequent  bath 
And  trapped  the  muskrat  in  his  furrowed  path. 
When  Winter  clothed  the  earth  in  snowy  fleece 
We  staid  at  home  and  played  at  fox  and  geese 
Or  simple  morris  (but  never  cards  or  dice,) 
Then  sallied  forth  to  skate  upon  the  ice. 
Returned  home  late,  we  said  our  evening  prayer, 
And  soon  in  sleep  forgot  each  boyish  care. 

There  on  the  hill,  where  once  a  willow  stood 
Close  by  the  pool  where  played  the  gosling  brood, 
The  hoary  grandsire  whiled  old  age  away, 
And  pipe  and  Bible  closed  each  happy  day. 


52 


The  giant  clock  that  clicked  behind  the  door, 

16  To  fix  exactly  noon,  eleven  and  four. 
The  oaken  staff  with  curious  dog-like  head 
The  chest  of  drawers  and  the  low-posted  bed, 
The  gold-bowed  spectacles  that  helped  the  sight 
To  read  the  News  an^  Holy  page  aright — 
These  precious  heir-looms  all,  we'll  treasure  still 
And,  dying,  leave  one  to  each  loved  child  by  Will. 

Transporting  joys  !  when  every  Fourth  of  May 
"We  witnessed  all  the  feats  of  Training-day. 
Oft  did  the  captain  chide  the  raw  recruit 
Who  "  left  the  ranks  "  for  gingerbread  or  fruit, 

17  Laughed  at  his  faults,  or  deeds  of  mischief  done, 
Brandished  his  sword  and  showed  how  fields  were  won. 
Pleased  with  his  men  the  good  man  learned  to  glow  ; 
Forgot  their  blunders  and  their  mischief  too. 
Careless  their  merits  or  their  faults  to  scan. 

He  all  forgave  ere  penitence  began. 

Thus  to  relieve  the  soldier  was  his  pride. 

And  e'en  his  failings  leaned  to  Virtue's  side. 

This  th '  Old  Militia .    The  ' '  Independent ' '  band , 

Was  famed  for  martial  glory  through  the  land. 

They  knew  the  tactics,  (all  that  their  captains  knew,) 

Both  Merriams  taught,  and  Major  Dudley  too. 

The  brothers  Merriam  were  of  warlike  fame. 

From  warlike  lineage  too-  'tis  said  they  came. 

By  nature  martial  both  ; — Joseph  the  Colonel's  name  ;- 

The  other,  Amos,  called  from  holy  seer  of  old. 

Was  Captain  then,  and  Deacon  now  enrolled. 

Such  troops  of  late  swept  o'er  Magenta's  plain, 

Choked  up  Palaestro's  riv3r  with  the  slain 

And,  while  the  world  looked  on  in  silent  awe. 

Fixed  the  proud  Hapsburg's  bounds  and  gave  him  law. 

'Twere  vain  to  tell  the  Captains  of  renown, 
Or  even  Colonels,  born  in  this  goodly  town. 
'Twere  sheer  impertinence  again  to  tell 
What  Russel  eloquent  has  told  so  well. 
These  warlike  worthies  now  have  civic  grown 
Fill  posts  of  trust,  of  honor  and  renown, 
And  wear  with  equal  grace,  the  oak  or  laurel  crown. 
At  every  party  gathering  round  this  hill 
One  served  his  party,  and  he  served  them  well. 
He  calmed  their  petty  quarrels,  hushed  their  broils, 
Professed  the  creed,  "  To  victors  be  the  spoils, ^^ 
And  he  was  bidden,  as  a  fit  reward, 


53 


This  goodly  Township's  correspondence  guard. 

18 He  kept  the  papers  too,  nor  kept  too  long 

When  State  elections  drew  th'  annual  throng. 

Too  honest  he  to  fawn  or  seek  for  power 

By  tricks  oft  practised  in  the  eventful  hour. 

Scarce  did  the  coachman  light  fro^i  off  his  box, 

When  bankers  hurried  in  to  learn  the  price  of  stocks  : 

And  many  a  blushing  maiden  he  made  glad 

With  rhyming  ditties  from  her  absent  lad, 

By  gilt-edged  letters  made  completely  well 

Both  pining  widow  and  censumptive  belle, 

19  The  Doctor  now  prescribes  for  female  ills, 

Along  with  gilt-edged  letters,  gilded  pills. 

To  him  the  politicians  all  resort 

For  news  from  Zurich  or  St.  James'  court. 

Or  that  last  speech  the  "  Little  Giant  "  made, 

And  "  guess  "  if  Wise  or  Douglas  has  the  wiser  head. 

Little  reck  I,  assured  that  both  must  yield, 

And  Banks  or  Seward  win  the  well-fought  field. 

Ladies,  your  smiles  suggest  another  theme, 
20 Ah  !  yes,  the  very  same,  'tis  Love's  young  dream. 
0  beauteous  maidens,  how  shall  I  declare 
Your  charms  ?    Vain  were  the  task  and  I  forbear. 
Consult  your  mirrors,  and  you  shall  almost  see 
What  charming  creatures  your  mothers  used  to  be. 
A  grace  that  mocks  the  Grecian  sculptor's  art 
Beams  in  the  eye  and  moves  in  every  part, 
That  witching  smile  and  dimple,  faintly  show 
Your  mothers'  beauty  thirty  years  ago. 

Seven  sister  stars  look  down  from  Taurus'  height, 
Seven  Grecian  Sages  saw  bright  wisdom's  light, 
Seven  golden  lamps  in  darkened  Asia  shone, 
21  And  thrice  seven  preachers,  Princeton  calls  her  own, 
Go  forth,  ye  heralds  of  the  living  God  ! 
Cross  desert,  jungle,  valley,  hill  and  flood  ; 
Proclaim  salvation  free,  unsold,  unbought, 
And  teach  the  J;)legsed  truths  the  Saviour  taught. 
Pagan  and  Jew  the  great  Messiah  shall  own 
And  shine  as  stars  in  your  eternal  crown. 

As  early  memories  throng  around  the  heart 
And  later  griefs,  for  each  hath  had  his  part. 
We  heave  th'  unbidden  sigh,  an  offering  given 
To  absent  ones,  too  early  called  to  heaven. 
Three  generations, — all  have  passed  away 


54 


Within  the  century  we  close  to-day. 
The  first  had  ended  this  tragi-comic  strife 
Ere  we  were  ushered  upon  the  stage  of  life  ; 
The  second  only  feeble  traces  left  behind 
Among  the  shattered  pictures  of  the  mind  ; 
The  third  in  limb  and,  feature  yet  remain, 
Entire,  unmarred  by  fracture,  blur  or  stain. 

Pardon,  my  townsmen,  the  tribute  of  a  tear 
Paid  to  the  one  my  memory  holds  most  dear. 
On  the  same  day,  we  drew  the  vital  air, 
On  the  same  couch  forgot  each  daily  care, 
At  the  same  notch,  we  turned  the  steel-yard  beam. 
In  the  same  field,  we  urged  the  sluggish  team  ; 
In  Dartmouth's  Halls  both  sought  for  wisdom's  lore, 
Both  left,  when  duty  called,  our  native  shore. 
We  went  far  off  in  Southern  lands  to  dwell  : — 
He  died,  and  half  his  virtues  none  can  tell. 
Oh  !  brother,  lost  one,  whither  art  thou  fled  ? 
Hold'st  thou  thy  nightly  vigils  by  my  bed  ? 
Know'st  thou  the  fancies  that  possess  my  brain, 
When  in  my  dreams  thou  seem'st  alive  again  ? 
Rejoicest  thou  before  the  throne  of  God 
No  more  to  smart  beneath  Affliction's  rod? 
Where'er  thou  art,  in  bright  angelic  spheres. 
Or  sent  to  calm  thy  doubting  brother's  fears, 
To  me  the  world  is  palled  in  frequent  gloom 
For  thou  art  gathered  to  the  mouldering  tomb. 
Though  fortune  smile — give  all  she  ever  gave. 
My  life  will  be  a  bark  on  stormy  wave. 
Lo !  heavenly  visions  dawn  upon  my  sight, 
1  see  thee  clad  in  robes  of  living  light. 
And  I  rejoice  that  thou  hast  won  the  Ohriitian  fight. 


NOTES 


(1)  page  44. 

**  From  where  young  Nashua^ s  silver  fountain  JIows.''^ 

_  The  Nashua  has  four  sources  in  the  town  of  Princeton ,  viz  :  two  which 
rise  on  the  north  side  of  Wachusett  mountain  and  flow  into  Wachusett 
Lake  ;  one  which  flows  through  the  farm  of  Mr.  Roswell  Osgood  ;  and  one 
which  rises  between  Pine  Hill  and  Wachusett  mountain,  &c. 

(2)  page  44. 

"  Or  where  Pine  Hill  his  lengthened  shadoio  throws  ^ 

Pine  Hill  is  very  high  and  very  precipitous,  so  that  there  is  no  moun- 
tain of  which  it  can  be  said  so  significantly  that  it  throws  a  "  lengthened 
shadow. ' ' 

(3)  page  44. 

"  Where  dwelt  thy  Gill  in  magisterial  state.'' ^ 

The  late  Lieut.  Governor  Gill,  of  Massachusetts,  dwelt  in  a  mansion 
which  stood  not  far  from  the  present  residence  of  Dr.  Boylston. 

(4)  page  45. 

"  Though  late  the  snow  doth  in  the  furrow  lie.'''' 

The  snows  are  more  abundant  about  Wachusett  mountain  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  State,  except,  perhaps,  the  Berkshire  Hills,  This  moun- 
tain forms  the  water-shed  between  the  Connecticut  and  the  Merrimack  ;  it 
is  about  2900  feet  in  height. 

(5)  page  45. 

The  follies  of  the  golden  age  were  revived  by  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau, 
who,  in  his  Essay  before  the  Academy  of  Dijon,  maintained  that  virtue 
can  be  found  among  the  ignorant  only,  and  that  vice  is  a  necessary  accom- 
paniment of  education. 

(6)  page  46. 

"  On  th^  eastern  slope  whence  old  Wachusett  swells, 
A  little  girl  (for  so  tradition  I  ells.)  ^^ 

As  the  fate  of  the  "  Lost  Child  "  has  always  created  great  interest  and 
sympathy,  I  have  taken  great  pains  to  solve  the  mystery  which  has  hith- 
erto surrounded  it.  Having,  while  in  Princeton  at  the  time  of  the  Cen- 
tennial Celebration,  seen  a  letter,  written  by  Mrs.  Cornelia  B.  K.  Brown, 
dated  at  Eaton,  New  York,  in  1827,  which  gave  the  death-bed  confession 
of  a  man  who  declared  that  he  had  murdered  the  child,  I  determined  to 
get  further  particulars,  if  possible,  and  wrote  Mrs.  Brown,  scarcely  hoping 
to  receive  an  answer.    I  was  agreeably  disappointed  by  the  receipt  of  a 


56 

letter,  dated  *'Rockport,  Bourbon  County,  Kansas  Territory,  Dec.  8th 
1859.''  She  says:  "  I  gave  more  credence  to  the  report  from  the  fact,  that 
all  the  years  of  my  girlhood  were  spent  within  half  a  mile  of  Mrs.  John 
Gleason,  of  Princeton,  whose  name,  previous  to  her  marriage,  was  Mrs. 
Patty  Keyes,  sister  to  the  lost  child  Lucy, and  one  of  the'two  sisters  who  went 
to  the  pond  for  sand  ; '  and  I  have  many  times  listened  as  she  related  the 
sad  stor}^  of  the  child's  disappearance,  together  with  other  incidents  that, 
in  my  opinion,  corroborated  the  truth  of  Mrs.  Anderson's  statement. 
Mrs.  Anderson,  of  Deerfield,  New  York,  witnessed  the  confession,  told  it 
to  Mrs.  Whitmore,  and  she  gave  it  to  me.  Mrs.  Whitmore  has  been  dead 
more  than  thirty  years.  Mrs.  Anderson  I  never  saw,  and  whether  she  ia 
still  living  1  do  not  know." 

"  I  was  told  that  Mr.  Littlejohn  was  thought  to  be  dying  for  three  days. 
At  length  he  arose  in  bed,  and  speaking  audibly,  said  he  could  not  die 
until  he  had  confessed  a  murder  that  he  committed  many  years  before.  Said 
he  was  formerly  a  neighbor  of  Robert  Keyes,  of  Princeton,  Mass,  There 
was  a  misunderstanding  between  the  two  families.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keyes 
felt  unpleasantly  to  live  thus,  and  went  to  Mr.  S's.  to  effect,  if  possible,  a 
reconciliation,  which  having  been,  apparently,  accomplished,  and  mutual 
pledges  of  renewed  friendship  exchanged,  they,  Mr.  K.  and  wife,  returned 
home.  Bat  the  enmity  of  Mr.  S.  had  not  subsided.  He  sought  revenge  ; 
and  afterwards,  seeing  the  little  daughter  alone  in  the  woods,  to  avenge 
himself  on  the  parents,  killed  her  by  beating  her  head  against  a  log,  and 
then  placed  her  body  in  a  hollow  log  and  went  to  his  house.  When  the 
neighbors  were  solicited  to  assist  in  searching  lor  the  lost,  he  was  among  the 
first,  and  bein^  familiar  with  the  forest,  he  volunteered  to  lead  the  party, 
carefully  avoiding  the  hollow  lOg,  till  night.  After  dark  he  went  to  the 
hollow  log,  took  the  body  and  deposited  it  in  a  hole,  which  had  been  made 
by  the  overturning  of  a  tree." 

Littlejohn  died  at  Deerfield,  New  York.  The  date  of  his  death  is  all 
that  remains  to  be  learned.  This  bad  man  lived  on  the  place  now  owned 
by  Ephraim  Osgood.  I  have  other  letters,  one  from  the  Town  Clerk  of 
Deerfield,  and  one  from  Rev.  Samuel  Everett,  of  Iowa  City,  whose  wife  is 
a  niece  of  the  lost  child,  both  tending  to  confirm  the  statements  of  Mrs.  B. 
The  interest  of  the  subject  is  my  only  apology  for  having  been  thus 
minute.  1  have  only  to  add  that  the  mother  was  brought  to  the  verge  of 
insanity  by  the  loss  of  her  little  girl,  and  for  a  long  time  after  her  disap- 
pearance, she  always  went  out  at  ni^ht-fall  and  called,  Lu-cy !  but  the 
echo  from  the  aged  forests  was  the  only  answer. 

(7)  page  46. 

"  Or  hoarse  Niagara  in  thunder  roars. ^* 

The  word  Niagara,  signifies  in  the  Iroquois  language,  the  thunder  of  the 
waters. 

(8)  page  47. 

'  *  Concord's  illustrious  son  the  ransom  paid 

On  that  high  rock  ivhere  we  in  childhood  played.'^ 

Mrs.  Rowlandson  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  burning  of  Lancester,  Feb. 
10th,  1765,  and  after  ivandering  about  Avith  her  savage  masters  for  several 
months,  probably  till  November,  she  was  redeemed  by  Captain  Hoar  of 
Concord.  Tradition  has  fixed  the  place  of  her  redemption  on  the  high 
rock  known  as  the  Rowlandson  Rock,  situated  in  Everettvilie,  Princeton, 
Mass.  On  this  rock  I  have  spent  many  a  happy  hour.  Hon.  Edward 
Everett,  (Mount  Vernon  Papers,  Nov.  19th,  1859,)  says  :  "  The  captivity 
of  Mrs.  Rowlandson  is  not  to  be  read  without  tears,  after  a  lapse  of  nearly 
two  centuries." 


57 

(9)  page  47. 
"  TAe  Tuscan  thus  filled  Europe  with  his  famej 
And  this  vast  continent  received  his  name." 

In  Irving's  life  and  voyages  of  Columbus,  Putnam's  Edition,  1849,  Vol. 
Ill,  page  343,  I  find  the  ioUowing  : 

"iVo/e  to  the  Revised  Edition,  1848. — Humboldt,  in  his  Examen  Critique, 
published  in  Paris,  in  1837,  says :  '  I  have  been  so  happy  as  to  discover, 
very  recently,  the  name  and  the  literary  relations  of  the  mysterious 
personage,  who  (in  1507) ,  was  the  first  to  propose  the  name  of  America, 
to  designate  the  new  continent,  and  who  concealed  himself  under  the 
Grecianized  name,  Hylasomylas.'  He  then,  by  a  long  and  ingenious 
investigation,  shows  that  the  real  name  of  this  personage  was  Martin 
Waldseemuller,  of  Fryburg,  an  eminent  cosmographer,  patronized  by 
Riene,  Duke  of  Loraine,  who,  no  doubt,  put  in  his  hands  the  letter 
received  by  him  from  Amerigo  Vespucci.  The  geographical  works  of 
Waldseemuller,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Hylasomylas,  had  a  wide 
circulation,  went  through  repeated  editions,  and  propagated  the  use  of 
the  name  America  throughout  the  world.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  this  application  of  the  name  was  in  any  wise  suggested  by  Amerigo 
Vespucci.  It  appears  to  have  been  entirely  gratuitous  on  the  part  of 
Waldseemuller." 

It  is  peculiarly  gratifying  to  be  able  to  settle  this  question  by  an 
appeal  to  the  Historian,  whose  death  has  recently  cast  a  gloom  over 
Sunnyside,  but  whose  writings  his  countrymen  will  not  willingly  let  die. 

(10)  page  48. 

^^Such  thine,  O  !  Harrington,  which  we  oft  have  seen." 

The  late  Captain  Harrington  of  Princeton  is  here  referred  to.  He  was 
very  proud  of  his  horse  which  was,  indeed,  one  of  the  noblest  specimens  of 
that  noble  animal.  Persons  who  used  to  attend  the  musters  at  Lancaster 
thirty -five  years  ago  will  recognize  the  picture. 

(11)  page  49. 

' '  Our  fathers  planted  here  'mid  ice  and  snow 
A  fruitful  vine  which  hath  not  ceased  to  grow." 

Ps.  LXXX,  10 — 11. — The  hills  were  covered  with  the  shadow  of  it,  and 
the  boughs  thereof  were  like  the  goodly  cedars. 
She  sent  out  her  boughs  unto  the  sea,  and  her  branches  unto  the  rivers. 

(12)  page  49. 
^^His  neck  with  thunder  clothed,  and  eye  of  fire." 


(13)  page  49. 
^^ I  used  to  hear  my  aged  kinsmen  say 
Balls  fell  like  hailstones  that  eventful  day." 

The  kinsmen  here  referred  to  are  my  maternal  uncle,  Abijah  Wood,  late 
of  Westminster,  who  was  at  the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,  and  my  grand- 
father, the  late  Joshua  Everett,  who  held  a  Lieutenant's  commission  during 
the  Revolution,  and  made  a  campaign  in  the  Jerseye. 

8 


58. 

(14)  page  51. 

"  Who  taught  the  stork  to  wing  her  annual  flight. ^^ 

Jer.  VIII,  7. — Yea,  the  stork  in  the  heaven  knoweth  her  appointed 
times  ;  and  the  turtle,  and  the  crane,  and  the  swallow  observe  the  time  ot 
their  coming. 

(15)  page  51. 

^^Nor  yet  for  this  incensed  tlie  heavenly  wrath.'' ^ 

For  a  long  time  after  the  invention  of  the  lightning  rod,  by  Dr.  Franklin, 
its  introduction  was  opposed  on  the  ground  that  it  was  presumption  to 
avert,  in  this  manner,  the  judgments  of  God. 

(16)  page  52. 

"  To  fix  exactly  noon^  eleven  and  four. ^^ 

Noon  was  the  hour  of  dinner.  At  eleven  and  four  our  ancesters  were 
in  the  habit  of  taking  the  semi-diurnal  dram.  This  was  before  the  organ- 
ization of  Temperance  Societies  and  a  little  New  England  was  thought 
necessary  for  frequent  infirmities. 

(17)  page  52. 

^^  Laughed  at  his  faults y  or  deeds  of  mischief  done, 
Brandished  his  sword  and  showed  how  fields  were  wore. 
Pleased  with  his  men,  the  good  man  learned  to  glow. 
Forgot  their  blunders  and  their  mischief  too  ; 
Careless  their  merits  or  their  faults  to  scan, 
He  all  forgave  ere  penitence  began. 
Thus  to  relieve  the  soldier  was  his  pride. 
And  e'en  his  failings  leaned  to  Virtue'' s  side.^" 

Imitated  from  Goldsmith : 

Wept  e'er  his  wounds,  of  tales  of  sorrow  done. 

Shouldered  his  crutch  and  showed  how  fields  were  won. 

Pleased  with  his  guests,  the  good  man  learned  to  glow, 

And  quite  forgot  their  vices  in  their  woe  ; 

Careless  their  merits  or  their  faults  to  scan , 

His  pity  gave  ere  charity  began. 

Thus  to  relieve  the  wretched  was  his  pride. 

And  e'en  his  failings  leaned  to  Virtue's  side. 

(18)  page  53. 

".He  kept  the  papers  too,  nor  kept  too  long.^' 

One  of  the  tricks  of  "  the  party,"  is  to  keep  back  papers  which  contain 
news  of  defeats  elsewhere,  on  the  eve  of  an  election,  so  tJiat  the  voters  may 
not  be  influenced  by  the  neVs. 

(19)  page  53. 

"TAe  Doctor  now  prescribes  for  female  ills.^'' 

Doctor  Brooks  succeeded  Colonel  Gill  as  postmaster,  but  a  few  months 
before  the  reading  of  this  poem. 


59 


(20)  page  53. 
*'Ah!  yes,  the  very  same,  His  Lovers  young  dreamt 

" genitoris  imagine  capta." — Virgil. 


(21)  page  53. 

''''  And  thrice  seven  preachers  Princeton  calls  her  own.''^ 

It  is  thought  that  Princeton  may  challenge  comparison  with  any  other 
town  of  the  same  population,  for  the  number  of  Ministers  of  the  Gospel 
that  have  been  born  within  its  limits.  With  a  population  of  less  than 
one  thousand  four  hundred,  it  has  given  birth  to  twenty-one  clergymen. 
Their  names,  arranged  pretty  nearly  with  reference  to  seniority,  are  as 
follows : 


Rev.  Sylvanus  Haynes, 

"  Abel  Woods, 

"  Leonard  Woods,  D.  D., 

"  Thomas  Mason, 

"  William  Mason, 

"  Charles  Brooks, 

"  John  Keyes, 

"  Humphrey  Moore,  D.  D. 

"  Samuel  Everett, 

"  Joshua  Eveleth, 

"  Ephraim  Eveleth, 


Rev.  Oliver  Allen,  D.  D., 
Elisha  Perry, 
Ebenezer  Mirick, 
Moses  Gill, 
William  Allen, 
Ezra  Newton, 
William  P  Smith, 
W.  W.  Parker, 
William  Phillips, 
Joel  Gleason. 


Rev.  Oliver  Allen,  D.  D  ,  late  Missionary  to  Bombay,  *'  Princeton  calls 
her  own,"  as  his  parents  moved  from  Barre,  where  he  was  born,  to  Prin- 
ceton, when  he  was  only  five  j'ears  old,  and  he  resided  here  constant!}'' 
afterwards. 


60 


The  Morning  Session  closed  with  the  singing  of  an  orig- 
inal Hymn,  written  by  Rev.  William  T.  Briggs,  Pastor  of 
the  Church  in  which  the  services  were  held,  in  the  tune  of 
Old  Hundred. 

HYMN. 

Here,  where  our  fathers  stood,  we  stand, 
The  confluence  of  a  mighty  stream  ; 
And  voices  from  the  far  off  land, 
Blend  with  the  day,  the  hour,  the  theme. 

A  century  past !     A  century  hence  ! 
To-day  the  nuptial  knot  we  tie  ; 
We  link  them  in  the  noblest  sense, 
With  thou'^hts  and  deeds  which  cannot  die. 

By  all  the  memories  of  this  hour — 
By  yonder  graves  where  sleep  our  sires, 
By  these  grand  hills  whoss  summits  tower 
High  o'er  this  altar's  kindling  fires  ; — 

By  all  the  gleanings  of  the  past ; 
By  sacred  earth,  and  skies  o'erhead  ; 
Here  let  us  vow — while  life  shall  last, 
To  emulate  the  pious  dead. 

And  when  we  sleep  beneath  the  sod. 
Where  fathers  and  where  mothers  lie — 
Come  tliou  blest  Savior — mighty  God  ! 
And  bear  vis  all  to  realms  on  high. 


Benediction,  by  Rev.  John  G-oodwin. 


61 


THE  DINNER. 


The  Procession,  escorted  by  the  Band,  reached  the  tent, 
where  an  abundant  dinner  had  been  prepared  by  Capt. 
Fletcher,  of  Leominster,  at  about  two  o'clock. 

When  the  large  company,  numbering  more  than  a  thou- 
sand persons,  had  taken  their  seats,  the  President  of  the 
day  said  : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — -Our  fathers,  we  trust,  acknowl- 
edged God  in  all  their  ways.  As  we  are  about  to  partake 
of  the  fruits  of  His  bounty,  the  Divine  Blessing  will  be 
asked  by  Bev.  Dr.  Allen. 

Prayer  was  accordingly  offered  by  Dr.  Allen. 

In  consequence  of  the  state  of  the  wee^ther,  which  was 
blustering  and  cold,  it  was  judged  prudent  to  return,  after 
the  close  of  the  dinner,  to  the  Church,  that  the  sentiments 
and  addresses  which  were  anticipated,  might  be  given  there. 


AFTERNOON  SERVICES  IN  THE  CHURCH. 


When  the  company  had  again  taken  their  places  in  the 
Church,  which  was  well  filled,  the  President  rose,  and 
having  called  the  assembly  to  order,  said  : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — Assembled  as  we  have  been 
to-day,  to  celebrate  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
incorporation  of  the  Town  of  Princeton,  it  becomes  my 
pleasant  duty,  on  this  occasion,  to  extend  to  you  a  welcome. 


62 

Had  we  met  here,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  partake  of  the 
repast,  which  now  is  among  the  things  that  are  missing, 
and  must  be  remembered  with  those  that  are  gone  by ; 
had  we  assembled  to  interchange  social  congratulations, 
the  day,  the  occasion  would  have  been  worthy  of  such  a 
gathering.  But  we  meet  to-day,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for 
a  higher  and  more  noble  purpose.  We  come  here,  I  trust, 
first  of  all,  with  our  hearts  full  of  gratitude  to  the  Author 
of  all  good,  and  who  governs  the  destinies  of  nations  as 
well  as  of  individuals,  for  His  great  mercy  and  goodness  to 
our  fathers  in  their  time  of  toil  and  labor.  They  established 
the  institutions  which  we  to-day  so  richly  enjoy.  We  come 
here  to  commemorate  the  deeds  and  the  acts  of  our  fathers. 

But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  will  not  detain  you  a 
moment.  The  speaking  for  this  day  and  occasion,  has  been 
assigned  to  other  and  abler  minds.  Permit  me  then,  sons 
and  daughters  of  Princeton ;  those  who  have  been  absent 
but  have  now  returned ;  adopted  sons  and  daughters ; 
strangers  who  have  honored  us  with  your  presence  on  this 
occasion;  male  and  female,  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor  ; 
one  and  all,  we  bid  you  a  hearty,  cordial  welcome. 

We  will  now  attend  ^to  the  intellectual  feast  of  the  day. 
The  first  sentiment  will  be  announced  by  our  Toast-Master, 
Joshua  T.  Everett. 

No.  1.  The  Day  we  Celebrate — The  close  of  the  first  century  of  our 
municipal  existence.  It  greets  us  as  freemen  ;  still  in  the  possession  and 
full  enjoyment  of  all  those  precious  rights  of  man,  intended  to  be  secured 
to  us  by  the  founders  of  the  free  republican  government  of  the  old  Bay 
State.  It  stirs  anew  our  sympathies  for  the  oppressed.  It  inspires  us 
with  deep  thankfulness  for  the  past,  high  hopes  for  the  future,  and  fresh 
resolves  to  be  ever  vigilant  in  tho  cause  of  impartial  liberty  ;  and  affords 
the  cheering  augury  that  the  rounding  of  another  such  a  period  of  time 
will  find  these  hills  and  valleys  radiant  with  the  fires  of  freedom  ;  teeming 
with  an  intelligent  and  virtuous  people,  peaceful  as  a  gentle  Autumn  day, 
and  free  as  the  whistling  winds  that  play  round  our  own  Wachusett. 

The  Band  played  '^Hail  Columbia,"  in  response  to  the 
patriotic  sentiment. 


63 

No.  2.  The  Sons  of  Princeton — Our  town  has  reared  men  of  eminence 
for  their  genius,  their  learning,  their  wisdom,  and  their  wit ;  but  we  are 
able  to  add  to-day  one  distinguished  name  Moore  to  the  number. 

The  President — Will  our  venerable  friend  Moore  supply 
what  Moore  seems  to  be  needed  on  this  occasion? 

Rev.  Humphrey  Moore,  D.  D.,  of  Milford,  New  Hamp- 
shire, now  eighty-one  years  of  age,  responded  to  the  call, 
as  follows  : 

Mr.  President  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — I  thought 
this  was  a  farming  town,  and  that  there  were  teamsters 
here,  who  were  used  to  teaming  with  oxen.  When  I  was 
a  boy,  teamsters  put  the  steers  and  young  oxen  forward 
and  the  old  ones  behind.  (Laughter.)  But  you  have 
seemed  to  reverse  the  order  of  custom,  if  not  the  order  of 
nature  ;  you  have  brought  up  the  old  ox  here  to  stand  in 
front,  not  in  the  rear.  But  as  you  hold  to  improvement 
and  advancement,  and  to  the  reversion  of  nature  and 
custom,  I  will  say  a  few  words. 

I  understand  from  the  sentiment  read  by  the  Toast- 
Master,  that  the  sons  of  Princeton  are  to  be  addressed. 
But  where  are  the  daughters  ?  I  find  them  not  in  the 
sentiment  expressed.  But  I  suppose  the  sentiment  will 
allow  us  to  infer  that  the  sons  embrace  the  daughters. 
(Laughter.)  We  will  take  them  both  together,  then. 
(Renewed  laughter.)  Fellow  townsmen  and  women,  I  am  a 
son,  an  old  son — 1  will  not  say  an  old  boy — of  Princeton. 
I  am  nineteen  years  and  one  day  younger  than  Princeton. 
I  have  not  any  distinct  recollection  of  what  transpired 
during  those  nineteen  years,  inasmuch  as  I  was  not  on  the 
soil  of  Princeton.  But,  in  1778,  between  the  18th  and  19th 
of  October,  one  dark  night,  it  is  stated  by  the  records  of 
the  town,  that  one  by  the  name  of  Moore,  came  into  this 
place.  (Laughter.)  I  don't  recollect  the  fact.  (Renewed 
merriment.)  I  do  not  recollect  the  circumstances,  but  I 
believe   tradition,  and   I  believe   the  record.     And  now, 


64 

here  I  stand  to  make  some  remarks,  which  I  could  wish 
might  prove  appropriate. 

In  referring  to  my  early  life,  I  will  say  that  five  young 
men,  before  me,  from  this  town,  passed  through  college. 
They  all  became  Clergymen,  men  of  talents,  men  of  char- 
acter, and,  I  believe,  men  of  usefulness  in  their  respective 
places.  Next  alter  them,  one  Moore  came  forward  for  the 
purpose  of  preparing  for  College.  He  had  but  little  means 
for  the  purpose.  The  first  time  he  ever  saw  the  inside  of 
a  school-house,  he  was  between  nine  and  ten  years  of  age. 
If  I  speak  of  my  personal  history  to  the  extent  of  an 
inch  in  length,  half  an  inch  in  width,  and  no  depth  at  all, 
will  you  indulge  me  ?     (Go  on,  go  on  !) 

I  attended  the  District  school  two  months  and  a  half  per 
year,  till  I  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  With  the  addition  of 
five  months  instruction,  I  was  a  member  of  Harvard 
College".  My  father  died  when  I  was  twelve  years  old. 
He  left  me  one  hundred  pounds — not  of  silver,  not  of  bank 
bills,  but  in  the  currency  of  the  State.  When  I  was  fifteen, 
with  what  little  perquisites  I  had,  I  was  worth  the  immense 
sum  of  twenty-five  dollars,  and  with  that  sum  I  fitted  for 
College.  (Applause.)  I  would  say  this  to  boys,  if  they 
are  here,  but  for  the  parents  who  have  boys,  that  they  may 
apply  the  remark  to  the  boys. 

I  graduated  at  Harvard  College  some  time  before  I  was 
twenty-one.  The  first  year  after  I  left  College,  I  passed 
six  months  teaching  school,  and  five  months  in  a  Theolog- 
ical course  ;  and  one  month  before  my  year  was  out,  I 
stood  where  preachers  stand.  I  did  this  by  labor— intense 
labor.  My  mind  was  fixed  on  my  object,  and  I  went 
forward  with  all  my  might.  In  1802,  I  bolted  over  the 
line  which  separates  Massachusetts  from  New  Hampshire, 
and  there  I  settled  in  the  ministry,  and  was  there  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  with  a  salary  of  four  hundred  dollars  a  year ; 
and  it  was  but  a  short  time,  even  then,  before  the  people 
suspected  that  I  was  growing  fat,  and  that  I  should  get 
too   fat   if   I   kept   in   that   course.     But,   my  friends  in 


65 

Princeton,  I  lived  it  througli :  I  am  alive  yet,  and  I  am 
here  ready  to  testify  to  the  necessity  for,  and  success  of 
mental  labor. 

I  will  say  one  word  respecting  Princeton.  I  think  it  a 
place  of  remarkable  stability.  The  mountains  stand  as 
they  did  ;  the  hills  stand  as  they  did ;  the  streams  of  water 
run  in  their  former  course.  There  is  no  change  in  them. 
Yes,  and  Princeton  is  remarkable  for  its  integrity.  The 
farms  are  of  the  same  extent  and  the  same  shape  as  they 
were  when  I  was  born.  Scarcely  a  house  is  put  up  between 
a  house  for  eighty  years,  except  in  some  cases,  in  the 
middle  of  the  town.  And  I  can  testify  in  behalf  of  the 
town — and  when  in  my  own  region  I  have  been  disposed 
to  compliment  the  town  in  which  I  originated,  and  myself 
with  the  same  stroke — that  Princeton  is  the  Prince  of 
towns  for  raising  oxen,  men,  and  stone  wall.     (Applause.) 

No.  3.  The  Toion  of  Princeton — Receiving  its  name  from  an  eminent 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  an  earnest  advocate  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  we  are  assured  that  her  people  vrill  in  future,  as  they  have  in  times 
past,  honor  his  name  and  character,  by  their  zeal  and  efforts  to  extend  the 
blessings  of  Christianity  and  liberty  to  all  the  human  race. 

Rev.  Dr.  Allen,  for  many  years  a  minister  in  India, 
responded. 

Mr,  President  J  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  What  we 
have  heard  to-day  concerning  the  individual  whose  name 
is  here  mentioned,  an  eminent  minister  of  the  Gospel, 
appears  to  render  it  unnecessary  that  I  should  say  much 
concerning  him  beyond  this,  that  he  was  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  ministers  of  the  day.  He  was  one  of  the 
largest  proprietors  of  this  town,  and  was  father-in-law  of  the 
most  eminent  citizen  of  the  town — Governor  Gill.  We 
have  his  likeness  here,  hanging  before  us,  and  we  had,  this 
forenoon,  a  bound  volume  of  his  sermons  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, and  I  understood  that  there  was  a  printed  volume 
also.     So  that  we  see  he  was  an  author  before  the  public. 

He  was  one,  every  way,  of  nature's  noblemen,  and  com- 
9 


6Q 

bined  a  rare  assemblage  of  qualities,  as  a  patriot,  a  public 
man,  and  a  minister  of  the  Gospel. 

So,  Princeton  has  a  noble  name ;  and  I  may  say  further, 
that  the  first  generation  of  people,  as  we  have  heard  to-day, 
were  noble  men,  zealous,  yea,  jealous  for  their  rights,  not 
only  for  their  rights  as  citizens,  but  zealous  and  jealous  for 
their  religious  rights  also. 

My  memory,  although  it  does  not  go  back  so  far  as  that 
of  our  venerable  friend  who  has  just  addressed  you, 
extends  back  more  than  half  a  century,  and  very  distinctly 
do  I  recollect  things  that  I  saw  and  heard  at  that  time,  and 
among  them  many  sermons  from  Dr.  Murdock,  the  minister 
at  that  time.  I  can  remember  among  texts,  the  division  of 
his  subject,  and  his  argument  and  illustrations  very  well. 
Some  sermons  that  he  preached  in  connection  with  foreign 
missions,  made  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind.  I  remem- 
ber them  more  distinctly  than  anything  I  heard  from  him. 
He  preached  a  series  of  sermons  on  the  same  subject,  in 
connection  with  the  first  enterprise  in  this  country  for 
foreign  missions.  To  carry  out  that  enterprise,  a  subscrip- 
tion was  taken  up,  and  people  were  astonished  at  the 
amount  received.  This  shows  how  strong  a  feeling  there 
was  among  the  people.  One  man  said  he  did  not  think 
there  was  so  much  money  in  town,  and  another  did  not 
believe  there  was  so  much  left  in  town. 

This  spirit  was  kept  in  lively  exercise  for  years,  and  I 
grew  up  under  these  impressions.  And  so  it  is  not  strange 
that,  after  having  finished  my  college  and  professional 
course,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  engage  in  that  cause  ;  and 
thirty-two  years  ago  last  Spring,  I  preached  my  farewell 
sermon  in  the  church  then  on  the  hill  yonder,  and  took 
leave  of  all  my  friends,  as  I  supposed,  for  life.  In  a  few 
days  afterwards  I  embarked  for  a  foreign  mission.  At  that 
time,  such  an  enterprise  was  quite  a  difi'erent  thing  from 
what  it  is  now,  so  little  was  then  known  of  the  heathen 
world.  We  found  India,  the  country  to  which  we  went, 
very  different  from   what  ,we   had  anticipated,  about  as 


67 

diflferent  as  to  costumes  and  customs  as  it  was  possible  for 
people  to  be,  and  yet  belong  to  the  human  family.  But  I 
had  gone,  as  I  believed,  for  a  good  purpose,  and  I  at  once 
adopted  that  country  as  my  own,  and  such  continued  to 
be  my  views  and  feelings  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  India  is  a  magnificent  country ;  with  the  highest 
mountains  in  the  world;  rivers  and  plains,  scarcely 
equalled  by  any  in  the  world,  in  a  higher  state  of  cultiva- 
tion than  is  generally  supposed ;  a  country  full  of  people, 
containing  a  population  six  times  as  large  as  all  the  United 
States,  and  it  was  probably  as  populous  two  thousand 
years  ago  as  it  is  now.  And  what  is  remarkable  is,  that 
that  country,  for  so  many  years,  had  continued  almost 
without  change  in  its  customs  and  manners,  and  in  its 
social  and  religious  institutions. 

In  the  providence  of  God,  my  health  became  so  much 
impaired,  that  after  using  all  the  means  I  could  in  that 
country,  I  was  informed  that  if  I  would  preserve  myself  for 
anything  more  in  life,  or  live  any  longer,  I  must  leave  that 
climate.  I  returned  gradually,  through  Egypt,  the  western 
part  of  Asia,  and  the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  Europe, 
going  slowly  here  and  there^  for  the  improvement 
of  my  health,  so  that  I  saw  much  of  those  parts  of  the 
world  and  people,  who  were  Heathen,  Mahomedan,  and 
believers  in  different  corrupt  forms  of  Christianity. 

On  returning  to  this  country,  I  renewed  my  acquaint- 
ances with  the  people  here,  and  I  found  them,  as  I  had 
reason  to  expect,  to  be  worthy  of  their  parents.  During 
my  long  absence,  those  whom  I  had  known  in  their  old  age 
were  all  gone  ;  those  who  were  then  in  middle  age  were, 
perhaps,  half  living,  but  greatly  changed ;  and  another 
generation  had  grown  up,  who  were  not  when  I  went 
away.  But  I  found  the  people  so  well  informed  in  respect 
to  all  the  circle  of  benevolent  efforts,  that  any  person  who 
did  not  know  their  parents,  and  what  a  strong  hold  the 
cause  of  benevolence  had  taken  here,  would  have  been 
greatly  surprised.     Such,  I  doubt  not,  is  the  character  of 


the  people  now,  and  such,  I  trust,  it  will  continue  to  be  for 
future  generations. 

Not  many  years  ago,  I  met  a  gentlemen,  rather  an  intel- 
ligent and  well-educated  man,  who  said  to  me  that  he  had 
become  quite  discouraged,  that  our  great  benevolent 
enterprises  were  proving  a  failure.  Here,  said  he,  the 
Anti-Slavery  cause  is  likely  to  prove  a  failure  ;  then  the 
Temperance  cause  and  other  causes  were  referred  to  in  the 
same  spirit.  I  told  him  I  had  not  those  desponding  views 
concerning  them ;  that  I  did  not  think  the  creation  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  which  God  had  pronounced  "  good," 
again  and  again,  and  of  which  He  had  been  and  is  still  the 
governor,  had  proved  to  be  a  failure.  I  did  not  think 
Christianity,  which  was  ushered  into  the  world  with  the 
shouts  of  "  glory  to  God  in  the  highest ;  on  earth  peace, 
and  good-will  toward  men,"  had  proved  to  be  a  failure.  I 
did  nof  think  it  ever  would  fail ;  that  so  far  from  failing,  it 
would  prove  the  great  power  to  raise  men  from  oppression 
and  sin ;  that  it  had  done  a  vast  deal  of  good  for  the  world, 
and  would  do  much  more.  I  did  not  think  the  efforts  for 
liberty  which  our  fathers  made,  had  proved  a  failure,  but 
that  God  had  great  and  glorious  purposes  to  accomplish 
yet  by  our  nation.  I  am  glad  to  say  this  gentleman  did 
not  belong  to  Princeton,  and  I  hope  none  here  ever  will 
take  such  a  view  of  Christianity,  or  of  the  state  of  the 
world,  or  of  the  government  of  our  country,  as  he  did; 
but  that  you  will  all  pray  as  fervently,  and  strive  as 
earnestly  as  though  all  were  depending  upon  you,  and  yet 
trust  in  God  as  implicitly  for  his  blessing,  as  if  nothing 
depended  on  you.  Only  go  on  in  this  spirit,  pressing 
forward  and  looking  upward,  and  all  will  be  well  with  you, 
with  your  posterity,  and  with  the  world.     (Applause.) 

No.  4.  And  I  will  bring  thy  seed  from  the  east  ;  with  spikenard  and 
eaffron,  calamus  and  cinnamon ;  with  all  the  trees  of  frankincense, 
myrrh  and  aloes,  with  all  the  chief  spices,  with  the  powders  of  the 
merchant. 

Mr.  Everett  stated,  that  it  was  supposed  that  this  senti- 


ment  would  be  responded  to  by  Dr.  Myron  0.  Allen,  of 
Wenliam,  a  son  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  just  spoken, 
born  in  India.  He  was  not  able  to  be  present,  but  had 
sent  a  letter  full  of  noble  sentiments.     He  would  read  it. 

Wenham,  Oct.  15th,  1859. 
J.  T.  Everett,  Esq.  : 

It  is  with  deep  regret  that  I  find  myself  obliged  to  decline  your 
kind  invitation  to  attend  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  incorporation 
of  Princeton.  I  cannot  indeed  claim  it  as  my  birth-place  ;  but  as  the 
residence  of  my  ancestors,  and  the  home  of  my  early  years,  I  shall  always 
feel  a  deep  and  filial  interest  in  the  good  old  town.  Its  grand  old  hills, 
swept  by  the  storms  of  centuries,  have  impressed  their  forms  upon  my 
mind  with  all  the  vividness  of  reality.  Wachusett,  Sugar  Loaf,  the  lesser 
Wachusett,  the  old  Meeting-House  Hill, — I  can  see  them  yet,  as  vividly 
as  if  gazing  from  their  bald  and  cloud-capped  summits. 

Nor  are  the  natural  features  of  the  place  its  only  attractions.  Those 
rugged  hills  have  reared  a  race  of  men  of  clear  heads  and  warm  hearts,  as 
well  as  of  stalwart  forms.  Their  kindness  to  me,  a  stranger  and  an  orphan, 
will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 

The  townfjhip  is  the  foundation  stone  of  all  our  fre3  institutions.  These 
independent  municipal  corporations  were,  from  their  origin,  republics  in 
miniature.  Their  meeting — scenes,  as  they  often*  were,  of  earnest  conten- 
tion and  even  wrangling— were  schools  of  republicanism.  In  them  were 
trained  the  men  who  made  laws,  and  erected  the  superstructure  of  our 
State  and  national  institutions.  Whoever  would  trace  the  history  of 
"  Liberty  in  America,''  must  study  the  history  of  the  towns  ;  he  will  find 
them,  in  miniature,  the  history  of  the  nation. 

Well,  then,  may  we  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  our  native  town.  Well 
may  she  call  back  her  scattered  sons,  and  there  are  many  of  whom  she 
may  be  justly  proud^ — they  are  her  priceless  jewels.  Wisely  may  we  medi- 
tate the  stern  virtues  of  our  fathers — their  example  is  our  noblest 
inheritance. 

As  you  request  a  sentiment,  I  will  venture  to  offer  the  following  : 

The  good  old  Town  of  Princeton — May  she  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past, 
be  the  nursery  of  men  solid  as  her  granite  rocks,  pure  as  her  mountain 
rills,  aspiring  like  her  lofty  hills,  from  the  low  cares  and  pleasures  of  earth 
to  the  atmosphere  of  heaven.  The  hills  of  the  sunny  South,  the  broad 
prairies  of  the  West,  the  "  coral  strands  "  of  India,  and  the  distant  isles 
of  the  ocean  rise  and  call  her  blessed. 

With  sentiments  of  much  respect,  truly  yours, 

MYRON  O.  ALLEN. 

J.  T.  Everett,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Toasts,  «S;c. 


TO 

No-.  5.  Our  Native  arid  NatMral  Productions — While  tim6  and  experi- 
ence have  taught  us  the  great  worth  of  our  Fullers,  our  Woods,  our 
Bangs,  Moores,  Aliens,  Russells  and  Everetts  ;  our  Flocks  and  Herds  ;  our 
Wheat,  Barley  and  Cotn,  we  are  yet  in  doubt  as  to  the  real  qualities  of 
our  Cohb^ 

The  President — And  we  propose,  now,  to  test  the 
quality  of  the  Cobb — not  the  ordinary  c-ob,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  but  the  Major  Cobb.     (Laughter.) 

Thus  plainly  called  for,  Major  Moses  G.  Cobb,  of  Dor- 
chester, a  descendant,  by  one  of  the  branches  of  the  family, 
from  Hon.  Moses  Gill,  whose  name  he  bears,  came  forward 
and  said : 

Mr.  President,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  Princeton : 
What  a  theme  the  sentiment  proposes  for  research  and  for 
thought.  The  farmers  of  Princeton  can  scarcely  expect  me 
to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  merits  of  Agriculture. 
You  are  an  agricultural  township,  as  the  ofator  has  Well 
said  to-day ;  you  are  essentially  an  agricultural  town.  I 
can  only  hope  that  sooner  or  later,  every  State  in  the 
Union  will  have  an  agricultural  department  in  its  executive 
government,  as  ours  has,  and  that  the  national  executive 
will  have,  as  a  branch  of  its  fostering  care  and  solicitude, 
an  agricultural  department.  You,  farmers  of  Princeton, 
have  no  cause  for  reproach  in  this  respect.  I  believe  that 
you  always  honored  and  fostered  the  science  of  agricul- 
ture. Cattle-Show  day,  at  Worcester,  Mr.  President,  is 
among  the  ineffaceable  memories  of  my  boyhood.  I  can, 
even  now,  feel  the  pride  with  which  I  used  to  point  out  to 
the  boys  less  fortunate  than  myself,  as  I  supposed,  the 
beautiful  products  of  Princeton ;  its  handsome  cattle,  its 
vegetables,  its  grains,  its  almost  word-renowned  butter  and 
cheese,  and  if  I  remember  rightly,  sir,  its  good  old-fashioned 
brown  bread,  made  by  the  housewives  and  daughters  of 
Princeton,  in  a  large  measure,  sir,  out  of  that  staple  of 
Princeton — Indian  corn.  But  at  no  time  do  I  remember 
to  have  seen  exhibited  there,  any  Cobbs.     (Laughter.) 


71 

I  have  been  aware  of  the  skill,  the  enterprise,  the  energy 
of  the  Princeton  farmers,  and  the  perfection  to  which  they 
have  brought  every  branch  of  agriculture,  leaving  nothing 
untried  which  ought  to  be  tried,  and  trying  only  those  that 
should  be.  I  am  aware,  sir,  of  the  increased  value,  as  an 
article  of  human  diet,  both  in  this  country  and  the  old,  of 
Indian  corn,  the  exports  having  increased  in  five  years — 
from  1851  to  1857 — from  one  million  five  hundred  thousand 
bushels,  to  over  seven  million  five  hundred  thousand 
bushels ;  and  the  export  of  Indian  meal  has  increased  in 
the  same  ratio.  But  I  believe  it  remained  for  the  Princeton 
farmers  to  test  the  quality  of  Cobbs.  On  this  matter  of 
Cobbs,  I  believe  I  have  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of  in  my 
ancestry.  Mr.  Samuel  Cobb,  who  was  quite  an  early 
settler  in  the  south-western  part  of  this  town,  and  who 
was  the  progenitor  of  the  Princeton  Cobbs,  was  a  worthy, 
sober,  well-to-do  farmer,  and  came  here  from  Cape  Cod.  I 
believe  all  the  Cobbs  in  the  country  came  from  that  section 
of  the  State.  I  believe  all  the  Cobbs,  male  and  female, 
have  been  industrious,  honest,  sober  people,  fulfilHng  the 
trust  imposed  upon  them ;  and  now  and  then  a  Cobb  has 
stood  out  from  the  general  mass  of  mankind.  I  will  say 
no  more  of  the  family  of  Cobbs,  except  to  add,  that  it  js 
a  great  source  of  regret  to  me  that  there  is  no  family 
bearing  my  name  in  Princeton. 

As  for  myself,  I  have  come  up  here  to-day, — and  I  do  not 
know  that  I  shall  ever  repay  the  debt  of  gratitude  I  owe 
the  citizens  of  Princeton,  who  have  allowed  me  to  do  it, — 
I  have  come  up  to  look  out  upon  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
panoramas  in  the  world,  almost,  the  charm  of  my  boy- 
hood, to  breathe  its  pure  and  bracing  air  with  the 
companions  of  my  youth ;  to  see  the  ''  old  folks,'-  and  shake 
them  by  the  hand ;  and,  let  me  say,  they  do  not  appear  a 
day  older  than  when  I  was  a  boy. 

I  feel  grateful  that  my  boyhood  was  in  this  place,  where 
I  could  trace  my  home,  by  metes  and  bounds,  not  by  a 
figure  on  the  wall,  or  on  a  door,  and  I  have  resolved  to-day, 


72; 

that,  sooner  or  later,  I  shall  make  my  home  again  in 
Princeton.     (Applause.) 

But,  sir,  another  source  of  sorrow  and  regret  has  come 
over  me  to-day.  My  friend,  the  Orator  of  the  day,  really 
destroyed  my  dinner  by  informing  me,  seriously,  that  there 
was  a  vote  passed  in  1760,  to  this  effect :  That  the  meeting- 
house be  painted,  provided  the  Hon.  Moses  Gill  will  furnish 
the  paint.  Now,  I  am  indirectly  a  descendant  of  that 
honorable  gentleman.  His  name  has  descended  to  me,  but 
none  of  his  money,  and  I  was  alarmed,  at  first,  to  think, 
that  this  day,  and  here,  that  old  resolve  should  be  brought 
forward,  and  I  be  called  upon  to  paint  the  meeting-house. 
I  found  out,  however,  I  thought,  a  way  of  escape.  There 
is  nowhere  a  resolve  that  the  house  shall  be  painted.  I 
also  remembered  the  reply  of  the  Irishman  to  the  farmer, 
who  complained  that  he  had  not  dug  his  potatoes  as  he 
was  expected  to  do.  Said  he :  "  If  you  want  your  pota- 
toes dug,  fetch  'em  along."  So  I  say,  if  you  want  your 
house  painted,  fetch  it  down  to  Boston,  and  I  will  see  that 
it  is  painted.     (Laughter.) 

Let  me  give  this  sentiment  in  conclusion  : 

The  Farmers  of  Princeton — The  most  economical  people  in  the  world. 
They  not  only  know  how  to  raise  aijd  shell  their  corn  in  the  best  manner, 
but  they  make  mince-meat  of  their  Cobbs. 

(Great  Laughter.) 

No.  6.  The  Chairmakers  of  East  Princeton — May  they  always  be  of 
good,  substantial  timber,  free  from  all  the  knots  and  shakes  of  bad  timber 
and  miscalculation.  May  their  backs  not  be  too  crooked  to  permit  them  to 
stand  erect  and  boldly  against  all  vice.  May  thay  be  shaved  and  turned 
to  the  perfect  model  of  integrity  and  virtue,  and  use  just  enough  of  the 
sand-paper  of  self-denial  to  smooth  oflf  all  the  rough  corners  of  intemper- 
ance, and  the  use  of  the  weed.  May  the  glue  of  their  friendship  and  love 
hold  them  together,  and  firmly  unite  them  in  the  pure  bonds  of  wedlock. 
May  they  never  be  stained  with  crime,  but  beautifully  painted  with  the 
graces  of  humility  and  charity,  and  ornamented  with  the  gold-leaf  of 
Christian  benevolence  and  world-wide  philanthropy.  In  short,  in  their 
whole  model,  manufacture,  and  finish,  may  they  be  done  up  Brown.  Nye, 
more !  May  they  be  like  the  faithful  Stewarts,  improving  their  ten  talents, 
and,  in  old  age,  recline  in  the  easy  chairs  of  competence  and  comfort,  and 


73 

in  their  final  exit,  may  they  all  obtain  seats  in  that  glorious  train,  whose 
conductors  are  the  -angels  of  light,  and  whose  depot  is  the  paradise  of  God. 

This  sentiment  was  received  with  applause. 

The  President — I  am  sorry  there  is  no  one  here  who  can 
rise  from  his  seat  in  response  to  this  sentiment,  brace  his 
back,  extend  his  arm,  and  give  us  a  "  stretcher." 

One  of  the  manufacturers  alluded  to  in  the  sentiment,  it 
was  hoped  would  be  present  to  respond ;  but  as  neither  of 
them  was  present,  Mr.  Brown,  of  East  Princeton,  said : 

I  find  myself,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  very  much  in  the 
position  of  the  schoolmaster  of  old  times.  You  recollect 
it  was  the  custom  to  make  considerable  preparation  for 
examination,  and  it  was  thought  best  by  some,  where  they 
had  not  made  much  advancement,  to  let  each  member  of 
the  school  know  his  position,  so  that  he  could  answer  the 
question  given  him  readily.  Well,  it  so  happened,  one  of 
the  boys  was  taken  sick,  and  the  teacher  did  not  recollect 
that,  and  put  the  questions  in  their  order,  one  of  which 
related  to  the  Catholic  Church.  When  that  question  was 
put,  there  was  no  response ;  but  finally  a  boy  spoke  up  and 
said  :  "  The  boy  who  believes  in  the  Catholic  Church,  is  at 
home,  sick  abed."  So  it  appears  there  is  no  response 
here,  because  the  gentleman  who  was  expected  to  do  it  is 
absent. 

Mr.  Mirick,  of  East  Princeton,  read  a  rhymed  response 
from  J.  W.  Nye,  who  was  not  able  to  be  present. 

When  God  in  Eden's  pleasant  bowers 

Placed  the  first  happy,  human  pair, 
I  wonder  how  they  passed  the  hours 

Without  a  settee  or  a  chair ! 

Perchance  some  stone  or  mound  sufficed 

To  sit  upon  while  living  there  ; 
They  doubtless  would  have  been  surprised 

If  they  had  seen  a  Princeton  chair. 

10 


74 

Now  men,  alas,  have  learned  to  cheat, 

And  little  for  each  other  care  ; 
And  manufacturers  compete 

In  turning  out  the  cheapest  chair. 

Within  our  humble  vale  we'll  strive 

To  busy  be,  and  banish  care, 
"We  also  calculate  to  drive 

Up  nothing  but  a  first  rate  chair. 

Thanks  for  the  sentiment  so  kind, — 

So  full  of  wishes  good  and  rare. 
And  may  its  author  ever  find. 

When  he  sits  down,  an  easy  chair. 

No.  7.  The  Natural  Scenery  of  Princeton — While  her  hills  and  valleys 
spread  out  for  the  eye  of  man  a  rich  and  bounteous  feast.  Old  Wachusett, 
robed  in  beauty  and  grandeur,  sits  Queen  of  the  scene,  and  with  her 
waving  forest  beckons  all  true  lovers  of  nature  to  the  banquet. 

The  -President  called  upon  Thomas  H.  Russell,  Esq.,  of 
Boston,  to  respond. 

It  is  no  easy  matter,  Mr.  President,  to  respond,  in  suitable 
terms,  to  this  remembrance  of  the  chief  distinction  in  our 
natural  scenery.  It  would  doubtless  be  best  done  in  the 
fewest  words.  Nothing  better  can  be  said,  than,  tJiere  it 
stands — it  sjoeaks  for  itself.  Whether  I  say  so  or  not,  there 
it  does  stand,  and  does  speak  for  itself  It  were  safe  to 
attempt  a  word  in  behalf  of  our  "  Old  Wachusett,"  behind 
its  back,  or  in  its  absence. 

I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  something  of  the 
mountain  scenery  of  New  England  and  its  vicinity,*  and 
while  the  Holyoke,  the  Catskill,  the  Kearsage,  the  Monad- 
nock,  the  Green,  the  Red,  and  the  White,  have,  each  and 
all,  varying  characteristics  of  beauty  and  grandeur,  none 
surpass  our  own  Wachusett  in  its  most  marked  and  notice- 
able features  of  beauty  and  loveliness.  A  well  defined, 
isolated,  symmetrical  cone,  rising  far  above  all  immediate 
surroundings,  it  opens  to  the  view  a  complete  and  unbroken 
circle.  In  the  midst  of  a  country  fully  and  completely 
subdued  to  the  uses  of  civilized  life,  it  presents,  in  no 


75 

view,  anything  of  the  wild  or  solitary ;  covered  with  a 
primeval  growth  of  forest  from  base  to  summit,  it  reveals 
nothing  rugged,  and,  in  the  symmetrical  outline  of  its 
ascent,  loses  even  the  true  measure  of  its  massive  propor- 
tions. It  has  not,  in  this  hilly  country,  the  more  extensive 
water  views  of  some  of  its  rivals ;  but  few  can  lay  claim  to 
so  exclusive  a  local  pre-eminence.  As  one  stands  on  its 
well  defined  summit,  the  eye  rests  on  no  view-obstructing 
neighbor  ;  the  heavens  spring  from  an  horizon,  a  seeming 
true  level,  and  arch  above  in  a  perfect  hemisphere ;  the 
distant  surface  of  the  earth  from  the  same  horizon,  seeming 
at  the  observer's  own  level,  (I  know  not  by  what  visual 
law,)  sweeps  down  in  a  perfect  concave  to  the  mountain 
in  its  center.  As  one  turns  on  this  center  of  a  seeming 
grand  concave,  the  eye  travels  a  complete  panoramic  circle 
of  loveliness;  an  unbroken  range  of  town  and  village, 
lawn,  field,  and  forest,  with  silver  tracery  of  streams  ;  and, 
here  and  there  dotting  the  surface,  now'  expanding,  and 
now  hiding  in  some  woody  recess,  many  sweet  lakes,  in 
their  placid  waters  mirroring  all  surrounding  beauty  ;  while 
everywhere  are  seen  evident  marks  of  the  human  industry, 
that  has  subdued  and  rules  over  all. 

Standing  on  some  of  our  New  England  mountains,  and 
looking  upon  a  vast  surrounding  of  mountain  upon  moun- 
tain, and  wild  unbroken  forest,  without  sign  of  man,  the 
mind  is  oppressed  with  the  solitary  grandeur  and  sublimity 
of  the  scene,  and  the  awfulness  of  the  presence ;  but  on 
the  Wachusett,  you  feel  that  grandeur  is  refined  of  all 
that  is  fearful,  and  one  seems  to  repose  as  on  the  ancient 
watch-tower  of  the  vineyard,  in  the  very  midst  of  a  scene 
of  peace,  life,  and  loveliness. 

Mr.  President,  those  of  us  to  whom  the  natural  scenery 
we  look  upon  to-day  is  the  first  we  saw  of  all  the  great 
and  beautiful  works  of  God,  may  well  love  these  hills  and 
valleys.  We  may  be  pardoned  if  we  dispute  the  right  of 
distant  or  other  lands  or  scenes,  to  diminish  ought  of  that 
affection  and  regard. 


76 

It  is  needless  to  make  a  weary  pilgrimage  to  the  desolate 
banks  ot  the  Nile, — to  seek  a  crumbling  pyramid,  buried 
sphinx,  or  enigmatical  hieroglyphic  of  perished  nations, — to 
delve  in  the  sands  of  Euphrates'  bank,  or  to  climb  to  the 
storyless  ruins  of  Baelbec, — it  is  needless  to  do  all,  or  any 
of  these  things,  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  venerable 
past,  and  look  on  the  face  of  the  ancient. 

Would  you  look  on  the  venerable — the  ancient?  Look 
about  you.  Have  you  never  thought  that,  before  the 
history  of  our  race  began, — before  Moses  gave  the  deca- 
logue to  the  descendants  of  Abraham, — before  Persian  or 
Greek,  Rome  or  Carthage  strove  for  the  mastery  of  the 
world,  this  old  sentinel  commenced  its  long  watch  over 
these  hills  and  valleys  ?  May  not  the  waters  of  a  general 
flood  have  rolled  and  surged  over  its  top  ?  Have  not  the 
storms  of  six  thousand  winters  beat  upon  it,  and  six 
thousand  summers  fanned  it  with  their  sweet  breath? 
What  if  no  human  eye  rested  on  it  for  long  ages,  and  these 
lovely  habitations,  the  great  architect  prepared  for  man, 
waited  long  their  coming  tenants,  even  their  savage 
precursors  of  civilized  life  ?  "A  thousand  years  are  as 
one  day,"  and  "  one  day  as  a  thousand  years"  with  him,  in 
whose  mysterious  Providence 

"  Full  many  a  gem  of  purest  ray  serene, 
The  dark,  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean  bear  ; 

Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

How  shortly  after  the  discovery  of  this  Continent,  this 
eminence  became  known,  is  not  certain.  Certain  it  is,  that 
Governor  Winthrop,  as  early  as  1631,  January  27,  and  some 
company  with  him,  ascended  Charles  river,  eight  miles 
beyond  Watertown,  and  there,  on  the  west  side  of  a  hill, 
on  a  very  high  rock,  they  '^  might  see  all  over  Neipnett, 
and  a  very  high  hill  due  west,  about  forty  miles  off." 

This  was  our  Wachusett  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
years  ago, — away  back  almost  to  the  days  of  good  Queen 


77 

Bess, — eleven  years  after  the  landing  of  Plymouth,  and 
almost  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  Boston.  How  much 
of  the  world's  history  has  transpired  since  Governor 
Winthrop,  on  that  Wednesday,  more  than  two  centuries 
ago,  looked  on  yonder,  to  us,  familiar  mountain, — a  period 
almost  spanning  the  civihzed  history  of  the  Western 
Continent.  It  has  witnessed  the  birth  and  vigorous  growth 
of  the  western  nations,  as  it  had  before  witnessed  the  all 
unwritten  history  of  that  strange  people  who  possessed 
the  land  before  us,  and  yet  seems  to-day  no  older. 

Sir,  the  great  duties  of  life,  are  not  those  to  which  the 
heart  most  willingly  turns.  It  marks  the  beneficence  of 
the  Author  of  the  Universe,  that  above  this  fundamental 
permanency  of  nature,  there  rests  a  mantle  of  change. 
The  phenominal  world  is  all  change.  The  day  has  a 
morning,  noon,  night ;  the  year  a  Spring,  a  Summer,  a 
Winter.  Life  has  an  infancy  of  weakness,  a  manhood  of 
strength,  an  age  of  decay  and  death.  If  all  about  us  were 
permanent, — no  falHng  leaf — no  darkening  evening — no 
decay  or  death  of  beauty — no  alarm  to  break  our  repose, — 
man  would  be  in  danger  of  forgetting  the  great  purpose  of 
his  being,  and  in  fancied  fruition  of  a  fleeting  present,  fail 
to  lay  hold  of  the  permanent  and  eternal. 

It  is  the  benevolence  of  God  that,  while  we  gather  here 
to-day,  is  mantling  thus  our  hoary  monitor  in  his  garments 
of  bright,  but  swift  passing  beauty, — benevolence,  that 
awakens  a  new  life  with  an  opening  Spring,  clothes  a 
world  in  beauty,  and  swift  turns  that  beauty  to  ashes. 

"  Where  are  the  flowers,  the  fair  young  flowers, 

That  lately  sprang  and  stood 
In  brighter  light  and  softer  airs, 

A  beauteous  sisterhood  ? 
Alas  !  they  all  are  in  their  graves  ; 

The  gentle  race  of  flowers 
Are  lying  in  their  lowly  beds, 

With  the  fair  and  good  of  ours." 

How  largely  we  ourselves  participate  in  this  element  of 
change.     On  these  hills  we  have  played  away  our  youth — 


78 

we  cannot  come  back  and  play  away  our  age.  Our  com- 
panions are  gone, — the  sports  of  youth  have  no  longer 
keenness  and  relish.  We  looked  then  on  children,  and 
now,  coming  back,  can  hardly  believe  they  are  men.  The 
fresh  bloom  we  used  to  see  and  look  for — ah  !  it  belongs 
now  to  other  and  new  faces.  We  knock  at  this  door  and 
that,  but  no  familiar  form  responds.  Alas  !  the  places  that 
once  knew  them  know  them  no  more— and  so  one  hundred 
years. 

The  fathers — where  are  they?  The  children — their 
children's  children — where  are  they  ?  Three  generations 
have  now  lived  under  the  shadow  of  this  goodly  mountain  ; 
have  looked  on  its  familiar  face ;  have  struggled  with  life 
and  its  duties,  as  we  do  now  ;  have  cherished  its  hopeSj  its 
affections,  and  borne  its  griefs,  disappointments  and 
sorrows ;  have  tilled  these  fair  lands,  and  peacefully  rest 
in  the  bosom  of  mother  earth. 

Life  is  a  warfare  that  knows  no  rest.  The  order  is 
always,  war cA  .^  We  are  of  the  grand  procession  of  our 
country.  The  youngest  of  us  begin  to  feel  the  pressure, 
and  hear  the  admonitory  steps  of  those  who  come  after  us* 
Happy,  indeed,  if,  as  we  pass  along  this  day  under  the 
shadow  of  our  native  Wachusett,  we  seize  the  great  lesson 
of  the  moment.  J^lark  the  swinging  pendulum  of  Summer 
and  Winter,  sunshine  and  shadow,  that  measures  off  the 
days  of  the  year,  as  of  our  fathers.  They  sleep — ours 
to-day  the  battle  of  life.  If  I  may  be  permitted  with  a  text 
to  put  an  end  to  a  discourse,  perhaps  too  largely  tinged 
with  the  hues  of  surrounding  nature  to  indicate  the  thought 
I  would  bear  away  from  these  pleasant  festivities — from 
these  sacred  memories — as  our  fresh  purpose,  as  we  lead  the 
van  a  second  coming  century,  I  would  say :  *^  Whatsoever 
things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever 
things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever 
things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,  if 
there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on 
these  things." 


79 

No.  8.  The  Young  Ladies  of  Princeton — May  their  virtues  be  larger 
than  their  skirts,  and  their  faults  smaller  even  than  their  bonnets. 

(Laughter.) 

No.  9.  The  Mothers  of  Princeton — As  patterns  of  virtuous  industry,  of 
mental  and  moral  virorth,  may  they  be  reproduced  in  each  succeeding 
generation. 

No.  10,  To-day,  while  we  thank  God  that  our  cup  of  blessings  is  so 
full,  let  us  also  pray,  that  each  succeeding  generation  may  possess  a 
Fuller. 

Response  by  Rev.  Arthur  B.  Fuller,  of  Watertown. 

Mr.  President,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — It  seems  to 
me  that  history  is  ever  repeating  itself,  and  as  though  we 
had,  to-day,  one  instance  of  which  Solomon  tells  us  is  a 
truth,  that  ^'  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun.''  It  is 
not  the  first  time  that  a  Rev.  Mr.  Fuller  has  addressed  the 
inhabitants  of  Princeton,  although  this  Mr.  Fuller  has 
never  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  face'  to  face  before, 
or  of  grasping  their  hands,  and  telling  them  that  those 
who  bear  the  name  and  cherish  the  memory  of  their  first 
minister,  cherish,  also,  a  love  for  this  place  and  this  people. 

I  have  been  very  much  gratified,  Mr.  President,  in 
coming  here,  and  gratified  with  what  I  have  heard  and 
what  I  have  seen.  I  might  pass  some  few  criticisms  on 
this  place,  if  I  chose.  I  might  go  back  to  Boston,  and  say 
that  everybody  who  came  here  "  got  high."  I  had  to — I 
think  every  one  does  who  succeeds  in  reaching  this  ele- 
vated place.  I  might,  too,  go  to  State  street,  or  "Wall 
street,  and  tell  our  merchants,  if  they  want  to  '•'  raise  the 
wind,''  they  had  better  come  here.     (Laughter.) 

I  was  a  little  fearful  for  the  practical  result  of  my  poet- 
ical friend's  address.  He  talked  about  squeezing  hands] 
but  I  found  I  got  squeezed  all  over  in  passing  through  the 
crowded  aisles  of  your  church,  this  morning.  Truly,  there 
I  found  a  warm  welcome,  even  on  this  cold  and  windy  day. 

I  believe  a  part  of  my  grandfather's  ministry  here  was 
a  stormy  one,  and  I  was  gratified  when  I  received  a  note 


80 

from  your  Committee;  inviting  me  here  to  say  a  few  words 
in  reference  to  him. 

I  was  glad  to  hear  my  friend.  Major  Cobb,  "  shell  out/' 
so  abundantly,  the  kernels,  out  of  which  good  intellectual 
bread  could  be  made.  Yes,  it  has  been  pleasant  to  see  my 
classmates  here  to-day, — the  friend  who  preceded  me,(T.  H. 
Russell,  Esq.,)  and  my  friend  Cobb, — and  that  our  good  class 
of  1843  was  thus  represented  here  by  us  three — a  trinity 
that  I  can  believe  in — three  in  one — three  persons,  but  one 
in  purpose,  mind  and  spirit.  But  I  did  not  come  up  here 
to  speak  in  this  strain.  As  I  was  thinking  of  coming,  I 
was  asked  by  your  Orator,  for  some  ancient  documents 
which  were  in  my  possession.  I  was  astonished,  on 
searching  an  old  trunk  in  my  attic,  to  see  how  many  vener- 
able papers,  pertaining  to  your  history,  I  had  inherited.  .  I 
have  in  my  hand  the  first  Covenant*  of  this  church,  with 
the  names  of  the  original  settlers  on  it.  Here  is  the  name 
of  Robert  Keyes,  whose  lost  daughter  has  been  so  touch- 
ingly  alluded  to,  in  the  Oration  and  Poem  of  to-day.  Here, 
too,  are  the  names  of  Mirick,  and  Mosman,  and  Hastings, 
and  many  another  of  your  early  settlers,  written  in  their 
own  hands. 

Here  is  the  first  Thanksgiving  Sermon  ever  preached  in 
this  place.  I  have,  too,  an  ancient  deed — a  certified  copy 
— by  which  Wachusett  mountain  was  given  to  my  grand- 
father, and  I  have  come  to  look  after  my  property  a  little, 
to  know  whether  it  has  been  entered  upon,  and  whether 
my  timber  has  been,  any  of  it,  removed,  without  my 
consent.  I  fear,  alas,  that  some  subsequent  deed,  however, 
makes  that  beautiful  mountain  the  property  of  some  other 
than  me. 

I  have,  also,  here,  a  letter  from  Governor  Gill,  presenting 
the  first  Bible  ever  publicly  read  in  this  town ;  and,  also, 
mentioning  to  my  grandfather  a  very  beautiful  lady,  who 


*This  document,  with  that  recording  the  marriages  and  deaths  of  the  first  settlers, 
was  presented,  by  Mr.  Fuller,  to  the  first  church,  througlx  Rev.  Mr.  Briggs,  at  tho 
close  of  the  Centennial  Celebration. 


81 

resided  out  of  Princeton,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  and  whom  Mr. 
Gill  believed  would  have  made  my  grandfather  a  most 
excellent  wife. 

Here,  too,  is  a  newspaper,  which  was  conned  diligently, 
and  contains  an  account  of  the  Massacre  in  Boston,  March 
5th,  1770.  This  is  the  only  copy  that  came  into  this  town. 
It  was  gazed  at  by  eager  eyes,  till  hearts  throbbed  and 
tears  wet  the  page.  It  told  of  slaughter,  and  an  event 
which  made  the  heart  beat  high,  and  the  very  turf  throb 
beneath  their  feet ;  and  ultimately,  doubtless,  influenced 
them  to  go  where  they  could,  as  soldiers,  avenge  that  and 
other  later  atrocious  crimes  against  liberty. 

But  I  wish  to  establish  definitely  the  fact,  that  my  grand- 
father was  a  true  patriot  in  those  "  times  which  tried  men's 
souls,"  and  in  favor  of  the  great  principles  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  As  a  specimen  of  some  of  the 
arguments  used  to  create  a  contrary  impression  at  the 
time,  I  will  state  one.  A  man  got  up  in  town  meeting  here, 
in  1775,  and  said:  "I  know  Mr.  Fuller  is  not  pious,  and  is 
a  Tory,  for  I  caught  hold  of  him  suddenly,  the  other 
evening,  and  in  his  surprise,  he  said :  '  Let  alone  of  me, 
by  George  ! '  Now  as  he  said  '  by,'  he  could  not  be  pious  ; 
and  he  must  have  meant  George  the  Third,  and  of  course, 
then,  if  he  would  swear  by  him,  he  must  be  a  Tory."  Such, 
sir,  were  the  ridiculous  arguments,  which  were  deemed 
sufficient,  in  the  excited,  almost  frantic  period  of  which  I 
am  speaking,  when  a  righteous  jealousy  for  freedom, 
assuredly  led  to  some  unjust  suspicions  of  those  no  less 
friendly  to  liberty  than  the  most  zealous  patriots  of 
Princeton. 

But,  on  this  subject,  I  propose  not  simply  to  make  cor- 
rections, but  to  give  proof  J  and  that  of  an  undeniable 
character — proof  in  the  handwriting  of  my  grandfather, 
giving  his  public  declaration  of  his  opinions,  read  in  open 
town  meeting,  in  1775.  These  papers  were  not  put  upon 
record  then,  though  referred  to  in  the  town  records.  It 
was  suffered  to  be  lost,  but,  fortunately,  I  have  the 
11 


82 

original  document  in  my  hand,  here  and  now.  It  explains 
every  circumstance  which  made  Rev.  Timothy  Fuller  sus- 
pected then,  and  clearly  declares  his  agreement  with  the 
principles  of  the  Revolution,  and  his  readiness,  even,  to 
fight  in  their  behalf. 

I  have  come  to  vindicate  his  memory ;  and  it  is  as  impor- 
tant for  you  to  know,  that  you  never  had  a  minister  who 
was  not  true  to  liberty,  as  it  is  for  me  to  be  able  to  say 
that  I  had  no  such  ancestor*  Let  me,  then,  read  from  these 
ancient  documents,  the  originals  of  which  were  once  read  in 
Princeton,  in  1775. 

•*  To  the  Committee  of  Correspondence ,  Mr.    Thomson,  Chairman ,  to  be 
laid  before  the  Town  : — 

Gentlemen  : 

I  am  very  much  surprised  to  find  that  any  among  yon  should 
suspect  me  of  entertaining  Principles  inconsistent  with  ye  cause  of  liberty, 
since  I  have  uniformly  espoused  and  supported  it,  both  in  public  and 
private,  from  ye  very  beginning  of  our  controversy  with  Great  Britain. 

I  have  always  submitted  to  ye  advice  of  Congresses,  both  provincial  and 
continental ;  subscribed  with  my  Hand  ye  Non  Importation  and  Non  Con- 
sumption agreement ;  strictly  adhered  to  it ;  have  never  opposed  any 
public  Measure  taken  to  preserve  ye  Rights  and  Privileges  of  ye  People  ; 
and  though  I  have  thought  that  ye  people  have  run  into  some  Irregular- 
ities, yet  not  more  than  might  be  expected  from  every  opposition  to 
unconstitutional  and  oppressive  acts  of  Government.  It  has  always  been 
my  firm  Opinion,  that  ye  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  in  exercising  ye 
Right  claimed  of  binding  America  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  would  reduce 
us  to  absolute  Slavery.  I  have,  years  ago,  laid  aside  ye  use  of  Tea,  and 
urged  you  to  do  ye  same,  that  we  might  defeat  their  Design  of  raising  a 
Revenue  from  us,  encouraged  our  manufactures,  and  pressed  a  Union  in 
this  and  all  ye  Colonies,  that  our  Resistance  might  be  formidable  and 
successful.        ******** 

I  think  we  have  Reason  and  a  Right  to  Complain,  and  when  our  Com- 
plaints are  not  heard,  and  our  Grievances  redressed,  we  have  a  Right  to 
resist.  We  of  Right  ought  to  be  as  free  as  ye  People  of  England,  accor- 
ding to  Charter.  ******* 

I  am  sorry  to  be  so  unhappy  as  to  fall  under  the  suspicion  of  being  un- 
friendly to  ye  Common  cause.  I  believe  I  am  as  hearty  a  Lover  of  my 
Country,  as  any  among  you,  or  any  in  ye  Country.  I  am  ready,  when 
Necessary,  to  fight  in  ye  Defense  of  it,  and  of  Religion.  I  think  ministers 
are  not  called  to  War,  unless  ye  rest  of  ye  Community  are  unable  to 
defend  it  without  them,  and  in  such  a  case  I  am  ready  to  do  my  part ;  I 


83 

would  not  count  my  Life  dear  to  me,  but  would  "brave  every  Danger  of 
War."  ******** 

In  conclusion  :  '*  What  your  design  is  in  calling  me  in  Question,  I  may 
not  determine.  If  any  were  so  mistaken  and  ignorant  of  my  Principles, 
as  to  be  really  jealous,  I  am  sorry  ;  but  I  am  willing  to  give  account  of 
myself,  without  being  offended,  and  am  persuaded  that  what  I  have 
offered  above  will  give  you  entire  Satisfaction  as  to  my  firm  attachment 
t©  ye  Principles  of  civil  liberty,  and  to  remove  every  doubt  from  your 
minds;  if  not,  I  am  willing  to  carry  ye  matter  before  the  provisional  or 

continental  Congress. 

TIMOTHY  FULLER. 
Princeton,  May  2*9,  1779." 

This  was  read,  June  2d,  1775,  to  the  town.  Another 
paper  was  sent  to  the  same  Committee,  to  be  laid  before 
the  town,  June  7th,  of  which  I  give  the  most  important 
part. 

*'  To  the  Co7nmiitee,  William  Thomson,  Chairman,  to  be  laid  before  the 
Town  .•-— 

Gentlemen  : 

I  beg  Leave  now,  to  make  Bome  Additions  with  respect  to  sev- 
eral things  in  the  Paper  which  I  read  to  ye  Town,  on  Friday  last.  I  do 
not  believe  ye  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  hath  any  Right  to  make  any 
Law  whatever  binding  on  ye  Colonies,  nor  to  lay  any  Taxes  or  duties  on 
us,  without  our  Consent.  I  am  clearly  of  opinion,  that  ye  acts,  called  ye 
Boston  Port  Bill,  that  for  Altering  the  Government  of  this  Province,  and 
that  for  sending  Criminals  to  Great  Britain  for  Tryal,  and  ye  Quebec  bill, 
are  unreasonable  and  unjust,  and  what  ye  Parliament  have  no  right  to 
enact,  and  that  ye  Colonies  are  so  far  from  being  obliged  to  submit  to 
them,  that  it  would  be  criminal  in  them,  and  they  would  be  ruined  by 
such  submission.  It  is  our  Duty,  at  present,  to  unitedly  exert  ourselves  to 
ye  utmost,  with  Dependence  on  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  our  righteous 
Cause,  to  resist,  by  Force  and  Arms,  the  Execution  of  those  Acts.  I  look 
upon  it  (as)  a  favorable  Providence,  that  the  Colonies  of  this  Continent, 
and  this  in  particular,  are  generally  so  happily  agreed  in  asserting  and 
defending  our  civil  and  religious  Rights,  against  ye  Invasions  of  the 
British  Ministry  and  Parliament,  and  their  venal  Army.  It  is,  I  think, 
ye  Duty  of  every  man  to  encourage,  and  according  to  his  Ability,  to 
promote  ye  Success  of  yc  Army,  now  raised  by  this  Colony,  for  its  neces- 
sary Safety  and  Defense." 

I  think  a  man  who  is  ready,  if  necessary,  to  fight  for  the 
cause,  or  who  offers  himself  as  a  Chaplain  in  her  army, 
would  be    acknowledged  as  a   true  patriot.     And    it    is 


84 

gratifying  to  know,  that  the  people  of  Princeton  came  to  the 
same  conclusion  in  after  years,  that  he  dwelt  here  among 
you,  and  was  chosen  your  Representative  to  the  Conven- 
tion, Governor  Gill  being  the  rival  candidate.  Nor  can  I 
feel  other  than  an  honorable  pride,  in  saying,  that  his 
descendants  have  uniformly  loved  liberty.  It  was  a  grand- 
daughter of  your  first  minister,  who  sought  to  staunch  the 
wounds  of  those  who  were  fighting  in  the  cause  ot  liberty 
in  a  foreign  land,  who  remained  in  the  city  of  Eorae, 
during  its  eventful  seige,  in  1848,  and  did  all  a  brave  and 
noble  woman  could  do  for  the  cause  of  liberty.  Such 
noble  fruit  could  have  grown  on  no  unworthy  tree  of 
ancestors  ;  and  I  rejoice  to  say,  as  a  matter  of  simple  truth 
and  justice,  that  the  principles  of  freedom,  cherished  by 
my  ancestors,  have  been,  and  are  cherished  by  all  his 
descendants,  and  that  to-day,  however  on  other  points  they 
may  difi'er,  there  is  not  one  who  does  not  long  for  the 
difi'usion  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  in  our  own  and  all 
lands,  till  at  last  your  sun  shall  not  rise  on  a  tyrant  or 
master,  or  rest  on  any  who  are  oppressed  or  enslaved. 

No.  11.  Bachelors — Left  alone,  as  they  wish^  will  have  no  history  in  the 
next  celebration. 

There  was  no  response. 

No.  12.  The  Medical  Profession — The  ignorance  of  mankind  with  ref- 
erence to  the  laws  of  life  and  health,  creates  its  necessity.  In  the  good 
time  coming,  their  prescriptions  will  be  preventatives  of,  rather  than 
cures  for,  disease.    Till  then,  may  their  pills  and  powders  be  harmless. 

To  this  sentiment.  Dr.  Nathan  Allen,  of  Lowell, 
responded.     He  said: 

I  wish  to  speak  a  few  words,  as  the  only  representative 
of  my  profession  present ;  and  I  wish  to  speak  in  behalf  of 
the  town,  in  reference  to  medicine  and  health.  We  had, 
in  the  address  this  forenoon,  an  account  of  a  physician  who 
occupied  the  chair  in  town  meetings,  and  held  many  high 
offices.  For  the  last  hundred  years,  we  have  had  a  noble 
order  of  men,  well  educated  in  the  medical  profession,  here. 


85 

I  believe  there  has  been  no  irregular  practitioners  in  this 
town,  and  it  has  been  remarkable  for  being  a  healthful 
place. 

I  wish  to  state  three  facts.  The  first  is,  that,  according 
to  the  statistics,  there  has  not  been  a  town  in  this  County, 
that  could  compare  with  this  in  respect  to  healthfulness. 
The  rate  of  mortality  is  less  than  in  any  other  town, 
being  only  one  in  ninety-three,  for  many  years.  But  in 
Sterling,  it  is  one  in  sixty-seven ;  in  Holden,  one  in  fifty- 
six  ;  in  Westminster,  one  in  seventy-five ;  in  Worcester, 
one  in  forty-eight ;  while  in  Boston,  it  is  one  in  thirty- 
eight.  I  find  on  turning  to  the  record  of  deaths,  last  year, 
that  seventeen  persons  died,  of  whom  eight  were  over 
peventy  years  of  age,  and  three  were  between  eighty-five 
and  ninety. 

Another  fact  is,  that  the  average  length  of  life  here,  has 
been  remarkable.  This  we  can  show  by  the  ages  of 
persons  who  have  died  in  a  long  series-  of  years.  The 
average  age  here  has  been  over  fifty  years,  while  in  all 
the  other  towns  of  the  County,  it  has  been  less.  In  Wor- 
cester, it  has  been  but  twenty-two  years,  so  that  persons 
may  expect  to  live  twice  as  long  here  as  in  Worcester. 
There  have  been  but  two  epidemics  here  in  many  years.- 

Another  fact,  which  is  creditable  to  this  town,  is  that  a 
large  donation  was  given,  many  years  ago,  by  one  of  the 
citizens  of  this  town.  Dr.  Ward  Nicholas  Boylston,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  medical  profession  of  this  State.  That 
donation  was  given  in  such  a  way  that  large  sums  are 
distributed  annually,  for  the  encouragement  of  students  of 
the  medical  profession.  That  sum,  put  to  interest  at  the 
time  it  was  given,  would  now  amount  to  more  than  seventy 
thousand  dollars. 

We  see  why  it  is  that  people  will  come  here  from  abroad ; 
and  they  will  come  more  and  more,  where  such  fresh  air, 
and  such  wholesome  diet  may  be  obtained.  People  who 
live  here  do  not  realize,  nor  have  any  adequate  idea  of 
their  privileges. 


86 

Only  five  or  six  persons  from  this  town,  have  entered 
the  medical  profession.  When  I  have  looked  at  the  history 
of  this  town,  and  considered  its  advantages  with  reference 
to  health,  I  felt  proud  to  refer  to  it. 

I  will  merely  add  a  sentiment : 

The  Inhabitants  of  Princeton,  and  the  Medical  Profession — May  their 
relations  in  the  next  hundred  years,  show  as  much  consistency  and  liber- 
ality as  they  have  in  the  past  hundred  years. 

No.  13.  The  next  Centennial  Anniversary — May  our  children  have 
reason  to  venerate  us,  as  we  to-day  do  our  fathers. 

No.  14.  Princeton^s  Sons — May  their  aim  be  as  high,  their  view  as 
broad,  and  their  principles  as  fr7n  and  deep-rooted,  as  their  own  Wachusett. 

To  this  sentiment,  John  A.  Dana,  Esq.,  of  Worcester, 
responded  as  follows : 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — I  congratulate 
you  upon  the  success  of  this  Celebration.  Most  heartily 
do  I  thank  you  and  the  people  of  this  my  native  town,  for 
this  opportunity  to  exchange  with  each  other  kindly 
greetings  and  joyful  congratulations.  Pausing  here  for  a 
little,  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  of  our  town's  history, 
recalling  pleasant  reminiscences  of  the  past,  and  with 
mutual  good  wishes  for  the  future,  we  will  gather  new 
strength  to  go  forth  to  its  duties,  with  a  stronger  heart, 
and  a  fuller  confidence. 

Sir,  I  will  yield  to  no  one,  in  the  strong  attachment  I 
feel  for  the  place  of  my  birth,  the  home  of  my  boyhood, 
the  scene  of  my  early  joys,  and  my  boyish  griefs.  My 
feelings  to-day  are  keenly  alive  to  the  sentiment  of 
Goldsmith's  lines : 

"  Where'er  I  roam,  whatever  realms  to  see, 
My  heart,  untravel'd,  fondly  turns  to  thee. 

#        #        #        #        *        #'#        # 

Such  is  the  patriot's  boast,  where'er  we  roam, 
His  i5rst,  best  country,  ever  is  at  home. 

Thus  every  good  his  native  wilds  impart 
Imprints  the  patriot  passion  on  his  heart ; 
And  e'en  those  ills  that  round  his  mansion  rise. 
Enhance  the  bliss  his  scanty  fund  supplies  ; 
Dear  ia  iihai.  slied  to  which  his  soul  conforms, 


87 

And  dear  that  hill  which  lifts  him  to  the  storms  ; 
And  as  a  child,  when  scaring  sounds  molest, 
Clings  close  and  closer  to  the  mother's  breast — 
So  the  loud  torrent  and  th3  whirlwind's  roar, 
But  bind  him  to  his  native  mountains  more." 

The  sentiment  to  which  you  do  me  the  honor  to  invite  me 
to  respond,  brings  me  back  to  my  home,  by  the  reference 
you  have  made  to  that  mountain,  to  which  I  have  so  often 
looked  when  away,  and  to  which  I  have,  with  a  glow  of 
pride,  pointed  many  as  my  native  mountain.  Why,  sir,  the 
time  has  been,  when  I  thought  it  the  highest  mountain  in 
the  world  !  However  much  wiser  I  may  be  to-day  in  this 
respect,  I  have  never  seen,  nor  do  I  ever  expect  to  see, 
any  mountain  whose  view  will  stir  in  my  heart  more 
pleasant  emotions,  than  are  always  excited  when  1  look 
upon  its  familiar  face.  It  is  an  honest  old  mountain,  and 
if  it  is  not  quite  so  high  as  some,  I  am  sure  it  is  as  old  as 
any,  and  will  last  as  long.  But,  sir,  the  sentiment  looks  to 
something  else ;  it  looks  to  the  end  and  .object  of  all  our 
lives,  and  the  means  by  which  we  may  make  them  a  success. 
As  a  life  without  purpose  can  never  be  useful,  so,  without 
a  broad  view,  and  a  firm  foundation  on  fixed  principles 
of  action,  it  can  never  be  successful. 

The  young  are  often  told  to  set  their  aims  high.  Often 
have  I  heard  it  in  that  little  red  school-house,  and  this  was 
told  us  in  such  a  way,  that  we  were  led  to  think  that  the 
wise  course  was  to  fix  the  mind  upon  some  particular 
object,  some  place  of  honor  or  trust,  some  high  position 
of  power  or  influence, — that  we  should  single  out  some  one 
of  these,  as  a  particular  object  of  pursuit,  to  attain  which, 
all  our  energies  should  be  directed. 

I  do  not  intend  to  usurp  the  prerogative  of  the  pulpit, 
and  read  you  a  sermon  on  this  occasion,  though  it  is  much 
easier  to  preach  than  to  practice.  But  I  will  suggest 
whether  we  should  not  labor  to  inculcate  in  others,  and 
whether  each  should  not  bring  himself  to  feel  that  all  the 
objects  of  life,  worthy  of  pursuit  by  a  rational  being,  should 
be  pursued  as  a  means  to  an  end,  and  not  the  end  itself, 


88 

and  that  end  a  two-fold  one, — self-culture  and  development 
in  the  individual,  and  usefulness  to  mankind. 

Now  we  all  know,  that  but  few  can  attain  to  places  of 
eminence,  as  commonly  received  and  understood.  How 
few  of  the  many  who  start  in  the  race  for  wealth,  power 
or  station,  attain  the  position  for  which  they  strive.  They 
all  start  with  high  hopes,  with  a  high,  it  may  be  with  a 
noble,  ambition.  The  motto  with  them  is,  ^^  aut  Ccesar^ 
aut  nullus,^'  and  they  usually  verify  the  motto — but  their 
verification  is  very  unfortunate. 

What  I  would  urge  is,  that  each  should  endeavor  to 
develop  in  himself  a  complete  manhood ;  that  each  should 
inculcate  all  the  faculties  of  his  nature, — physical,  mental 
and  moral, — by  such  pursuits  as  are  best  fitted  to  his  par- 
ticular organization,  without  regard  to  any  particular  -end 
to  be  attained,  but  the  general  one  I  have  named,  and  we 
shall  find  we  have  each  a  position  of  greatness,  which  will 
well  reward  all  our  labor.  By  such  a  course  as  this,  we 
shall  all  find  enough  to  do  at  home  ;  we  shall  all  have  a 
business  for  life  on  our  hands.  We  need  not  go  far  in 
search  of  labor  or  duty ;  it  lies  all  around  us,  and  the 
future,  about  which  we  have  so  much  solicitude,  will  become 
the  p7xsent,  for  the  surest  way  to  know  our  duty  in  the 
future,  is  to  do  the  duty  that  lies  next  us. 

And  we  shall  also  find,  that  true  greatness  lies  not  in 
any  particular  station  in  life,  but  in  every  station.  It 
needs  not  wealth  or  rank  to  give  it  power ;  it  has  a  power 
all  its  own.  It  shines  as  well  in  the  cottage  of  the  poor, 
as  in  the  mansion  of  the  rich. 

"  What  tho'  on  hamely  fare  we  dine, 

Wear  hoddin  grey  and  a'  that ; 
Gie  fools  their  silk  and  knaves  their  wine, 

A  marCs  a  man  for  a'  that. 
An  honest  man  tho'  e'er  sae  poor. 

Is  king  of  men  for  a'  that." 

I  close  with  this  sentiment : 

His  aims  are  high  who  aims  a  complete,  perfect  manhood.  His  view 
must  be  broad,  and  his  principles  firm,  who  will  attain  it. 


89 

No.  15.  Our  Festal  Day — "We,  this  day,  tie  the  nuptial  knot  between 
the  past  and  eoming  century.  And  our  Mother,*  though  hoary  with  age, 
is,  (we  are  happy  to  know,)  vigorous  and  blithe  as  ever,  and  many  of  her 
sons  and  daughters  are  present  to  grace  the  ceremony. 

It  was  expected  this  sentiment  would  have  been  re- 
sponded to  by  Colonel  Howe,  of  Rutland ;  but  owing  to 
the  lateness  of  the  hour,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the  house, 
before  the  sentiment  was  read. 

The  following  is  a  volunteer  sentiment,  left  bj  Colonel 
Howe  : 

The  Citizens  of  Princeton — Their  past  ha  s  been  marked  by  enterprise, 
benevolence,  and  prosperity.  May  their  future  be  distinguished  by  all 
those  virtues  which  elevate  and  adorn  the  human  family. 

No.  16.  The  Wachuseit  Cornet  Band — May  their  lives  be  so  pure,  and 
their  strains  of  music  so  ennobling,  that  this  old  monarch  of  hills  shall 
proudly  own  his  namesake. 

Responded  to  by  the  Band. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned  till  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening. 


EYENINO  MEETING. 


At  a  little  after  seven  o'clock,  the  Church  was  pretty 
well  filled  again,  agreeably  to  the  adjournment,  and  the 
President,  having  called  the  meeting  to  order,  said : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — Permit  me,  once  more,  in 
behalf  of  our  vigilant  Committee  of  Arrangements,  in 
behalf  of  the  legal  voters  of  Princeton,  by  whose  act  we 
have  this  day  assembled,  to  extend  to  you  the  right  hand 

*A  large  portion  of  Princeton  was,  at  its  incorporation,  taken  from  Rutland. 

12 


90 

of  fellowship,  and  to  thank  you  all  for  the  interest  you 
have  taken,  on  this  occasion,  which  interest  has  brought 
you  together  again  this  evening,  to  listen  to  these  closing 
services.  It  was  a  custom  of  our  fathers,  to  look  to  God 
in  all  their  town  meetings, — to  that  Being  whose  mercies 
are  new  every  morning,  and  fresh  every  evening  and  every 
moment.  Shall  we,  in  imitation  of  their  example,  look  to 
Him  on  this  occasion  ?  Will  Rev.  Mr.  Cowles  lead  us  in 
prayer  ? 

Prayer  was  then  oflfered  by  Rev.  John  P.  Cowles,  of 
Ipswich,  a  former  Pastor  in  Princeton. 

After  music  by  the  Band,  the  next  regular  sentiment 
was  read,  as  follows  : 

No.  17.  The  Second  Centennial  Celebration — The  heroic  and  successful 
resistance  of  our  ancestors  to  British  tyranny,  secured  freedom  to  one  race 
of  one  age.  May  it  be  the  glad  privilege  of  those  who  shall  stand  here 
to  celebrate  one  hundred  years  this  day,  that  the  nobler  patriotism,  and 
holier  self-sacrifice  of  the  friends  of  unrestricted  human  rights  in  this 
country,  have  bequeathed  impartial  liberty  to  every  tribe  of  every  race^ 
forevermore. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Heywood,  of  Worcester,  called  upon  to 
respond,  said : 

It  may  seem  unfortunate  that  it  should  fall  to  me  "  to 
give  the  improvement,"  as  the  old  Puritans  would  say,  of 
the  sentiment  just  read,  fellowshipped  as  I  am  with  a  class 
of  persons  who  have  the  reputation  of  not  being  very 
economical  of  truth,  who  sometimes  have  a  weakness  for 
telling  the  whole  truth,  in  dealing  with  the  question  of 
freedom.  I  appreciate  the  feelings  of  that  slip  of  the 
clerical  profession,  who,  caught  holding  forth  in  strait 
Puritan  Boston,  without  proper  authority,  was  called  to 
order  by  one  who  sat  in  Moses'  seat.  •'  But  don't  the 
Bible  say,  we  must  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  critter?" 
asked  the  sprig.  ''  Yes,"  replied  the  venerable  divine ; 
"  but  it  don't  say  that  every  critter  must  preach  the 
Gospel." 


91 

I  find  that,  as  early  as  1763,  the  settlers  of  this  town 
passed  resolutions,  showing  a  clear-sighted,  resolute  and 
unswerving  devotion  to  the  principles  of  that  inspired  and 
immortal  declaration,  which,  in  1776,  leaped  from  the  brain 
of  Jeiferson,  full-armed  for  the  revolutionary  conflict. 
Subsequently,  they  dismissed  their  minister,  (Rev.  Mr. 
Fuller,)  for  entertaining,  as  they  erroneously  supposed, 
Tory  proclivities — then  inaugurating  the  itinerant  method, 
so  popular  here,  for  Princeton  has  always  settled  its  min- 
isters on  horseback.  Thus  early  did  our  fathers  evince  a 
faith  in  principle,  and  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  of  every 
worldly  interest,  in  adherence  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 
They  saw  that  human  rights  are  antecedent  to  all  human 
governments,  and  hence  above  the  reach  or  refusal  of  all 
human  laws.  They  made  institutions  for  man.  The  polit- 
ical and  ecclesiastical  policy  of  the  present  day,  makes 
man  for  institutions.  It  circumscribes  the  boundaries  of 
human  rights  ;  spells  negro  with  two  gs  ]  preaches  Jesus 
and  practices  Judas.  Our  ancestors  overleaped  the  fences 
of  custom  and  tradition— were  the  "  rebels,"  the  "  insur- 
rectionists," and  "  madmen  "  of  their  day.  Hence,  their 
lesson  to  us  is :  "  Break  with  the  huckstering '  law  and  order' 
of  your  age ;  project  your  thoughts  from  behind  institu* 
tions  ;  build  on  ideas  ;  trample  under  foot  all  compromising 
organizations  ;  '  be  governed  by  the  laws  of  God,  until 
you  can  make  better.'  " 

Some  years  later,  Mr.  Fuller  returning — a  prophet  to 
be  honored  in  his  own  country — showed,  conclusively,  that 
he  was  right  on  the  question  of  freedom.  In  the  State 
Convention,  to  ratify  the  Federal  Constitution,  he  voted 
against  that  iniquitous  instrument,  on  the  ground  of  its 
pro-slavery  clauses.  I  am  proud  that  the  representative  of 
my  native  town  took  so  noble  a  position  in  that  crisis,  so 
fatal  to  the  black  man, — proud  that  the  first  clergyman  of 
this  district,  bore  so  high  a  moral  testimony  to  the  politi- 
cians of  his  age.  The  test  of  principle  is  to  disagree  with 
our  immediate  cotemporaries,  when  conscience  bids.     Mr. 


92 

Fuller,  doing  that,  proved  his  superiority.  He  was 
taller  than  his  peers — a  moral  Wachusett,  crowned  by  the 
light  of  opposite  centuries.  Let  us  thank  God  that  this 
heroic  minister  of  Christ,  had  the  morsel  courage  to  outface 
his  compromising  fellows  and  repudiate  a  constitution 
that  consigned  the  black  man  to  perpetual  slavery. 

I  do  not  wish  to  preach  you  an  anti-slavery  lecture,  but 
I  must  say,  I  was  saddened  this  morning,  on  looking 
around,  to  find  not  a  single  motto — significant  of  the 
fact,  that  four  million  slaves  are  crushed  under  the  political 
and  ecclesiastical  institutions  of  this  country — not  one 
word  to  alleviate  the  ineffable  woes  that  weigh  upon  their 
hearts.  Are  not  the  sainted  insurrectionists  of  '76  still  on 
the  side  of  the  oppressed  ?  Do  not  they  yearn  to-day, 
from  their  higher  seats,  towards  these  millions  of  "  suftering 
and  dumb  "  victims  of  a  bondage,  "  one  hour  of  which," 
Jefi'ersbn  being  the  judge,  "  is  fraught  with  more  misery 
than  whole  ages  of  that  which  we  rose  in  rebellion  to 
oppose  V 

Pluck  aside  the  centuries,  and  see  how  far  we  have 
strayed  from  that  sublime  ancestry,  which  "  began  with 
Puritanism  and  the  wilderness ; "  from  that  martyr  faith, 
which,  hurling  British  tyranny  across  the  Atlantic,  sounded 
boldly  out  into  the  great  deep  of  equal  rights,  the 
Columbus  of  a  true  popular  sovereignty.  In  1641,  Mass- 
achusetts, young,  weak,  destitute  as  an  orphan  girl,  spread 
her  arms  "to  all  who  could  fly  to  her  from  the  tyranny  and 
oppression  of  their  persecutors,''  and  pledged  them  pro- 
tection and  maintenance  at  the  public  cost.  In  1859,  rich, 
luxurious,  powerful,  studded  all  over  with  churches, 
colleges,  and  temples  of  justice,  the  Legislature  refusing 
to  shelter  the  hounded  fugitive  from  oppression,  deliber- 
ately votes,  (the  representative  of  this  town  concurring,*) 
that  our  soil,  hallowed  with  heroes'  graves,  shall  continue 
open  ground  for  the  slave-hunter  !  Thank  God  for  Massa- 
chutetts  !     She  was  the  first  of  civilized  States  in  history, 

*  See  Note. 


93 

to  abolish  slavery  by  law.  It  was  done  in  1780,  and  the 
glorious  event  should  be  distinguished  by  a  red  letter  day 
in  our  Calender.  But  in  1789,  she  went  into  partnership 
with  slave  dealers,  and  the  firm  is  yet  undissolved.  When 
Webster  was  kicking  in  his  cradle,  Washington  wrote  to 
New  Hampshire  for  the  return  of  a  fugitive  woman.  But, 
said  he,  if  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  people  is  against  it, 
let  her  go.  In  1859,  Massachusetts  erects  a  statue  to  the 
man,  who,  beyond  all  others,  has  insulted  the  moral  senti- 
ment of  New  England,  by  commanding  her  to  "  conquer 
her  prejudices ''  in  favor  of  liberty,  and  return  men  to 
bondage,  "  with  alacrity."  But  why  travel  so  far  from 
home?  I  have  told  you  how  the  early  settlers  of  this 
town,  rude,  untaught,  scarcely  able  to  wring  a  subsistence 
from  these  unthankful  hills,  risked  the  ruin  of  their  church, 
and  the  loss  of  educational  advantages,  by  hurrying  from 
their  sacred  desk,  a  minister,  on  mere  suspicion  of  indij0fer- 
ence  to  the  interests  of  freedom,  and  of  sympathizing  with 
a  comparatively  respectable  despotism  beyond  the  Atlantic. 
I  would  gladly  forget  to  say,  did  truth  and  the  solemn 
monitions  of  this  hour  allow  it,  that  lately  there  stood  in 
this  pulpit,  with  the  consent  of  these  pews,  the  great  New 
England  apologist  of  the  most  cruel  and  remorseless 
system  of  bondage  in  modern  history .'•■' 

We  meet  to  celebrate  the  deeds  of  revolutionists,  of 
traitors,  of  insurrectionists.  To-day,  with  a  chastened, 
reverent  enthusiasm,  we  take  into  our  hands  the  consecrated 
sword,  or  musket,  with  which  they  slew  oppressors.  We 
wear  next  our  very  hearts,  every  brave  word,  whereby 
they  pledged  themselves  to  sink  the  government,  the 
church,  and  the  world,  rather  than  relinquish  justice  or 
liberty.  We  glory  in  that  Congregationalism  which  made 
every  man  a  church ;  in  that  democracy  which  made  every 
man  a  monarchy.  Those  sainted  farmers,  play-fellows  of 
these  venerable  hills,  wherever  they  walked,  society  heaved 
with   the    volcanic    throes    of    revolt.     We   are    all   the 

*  See  Note. 


94 

children,  the  heirs  apparent,  of  treason  and  rebellion. 
Put  your  ear  to  the  ground,  and  you  will  hear  the  echoing, 
earthquake  tread  of  the  impending  second  American  Rev- 
olution. This  very  week,  its  Bunker's  Hill  was  fought  at 
Harper's  Ferry.  The  timid,  faithless  toryism  of  to-day, 
pales  and  trembles  at  the  crack  of  insurgent  rifles,  whose 
echoes  still  linger  among  the  Alleghanies  and  Shenandoahs. 
John  Brown,  braver  than  Warren,  more  self-sacrificing  than 
Lafayette,  with  his  Spartan  score  of  followers,  throws 
himself  against  a  gigantic  despotism,  in  defence  of  the 
principles  of  the  fathers.  From  these  sacred  graves,  on 
which  we  stretch  ourselves  to-day^  they  speak :  "  Go  thou 
and  do  likewise  ;  be  true  to  our  memory ;  execute  justice 
for  the  oppressed;  launch  upon  equal  inalienable  rights, 
and  let  God  take  care  of  the  consequences." 

As  Luther  said,  "  God  never  can  do  without  brave  men." 
The  age  of  brute  force,  the  reign  of  bullets,  is  over.  Ideas 
are  gradually  ascending  to  absolute  power.  It  is  our  priv- 
ilege to  rely  upon  moral  force  agitation — upon  the  omnipo- 
tence of  abstract  principles.  The  times  "  demand  an  arm 
of  tougher  sinew  than  the  sword."  It  is  for  us  to  side 
with  the  oppressed  and  down-trodden  in  the  great  moral 
Bunker  Hills  and  Solferinos  of  human  conflict,  to  make 
ourselves  of  no  reputation,  and  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things, 
if  need  be,  in  defence  of  Jesus  in  the  "little  ones."  Every 
crown  of  glory  must  first  be  a  crown  of  thorns.  As  for 
me,  I  believe  in  the  inalienable  and  absolute  right  of  every 
man  to  "  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  I  am 
for  the  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation  of  every 
slave  of  every  race,  clime,  or  condition.  In  the  great 
conflict  4or  the  rights  of  black  men,  now  shaking  this  country 
to  its  foundations,  "  no  union  with  slaveholders,"  is  the 
highest  moral  ground,  the  only  Christian  position,  the 
only  Pisgah  that  overlooks  the  promised  land  of  impartial 
liberty  from  this  wilderness  of  compromise.  Our  fathers 
rest  from  their  labors.  The  beloved  sleep  well.  We,  also,- 
are  before  the  world,  who  wiU  judge  us  according  to  our 


95 


works.     To  equal  our  predecessors,  we  must  surpass  them. 
To  do  as  much,  we  must  do  more. 

"  New  occasions  teach  new  duties  ;  Time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth  ; 
They  must  upward  still,  and  onward,  who  would  keep  abreast  of  Truth. 
Lo,  before  us  gleam  her  campfires  !     We  ourselves  must  Pilgrims  be  ; 
Launch  our  Mayflower,  and  steer  boldly  through  the  desperate  winter  sea. 
Nor  attempt  the  Future's  portal  with  the  Past's  blood-rusted  key." 

*NoTE.— The  undersigned,  a  majority  of  the  Committee,  having  this  report  in  charge, 
(the  minority  disclaiming  it  their  province  to  judge,  or  express  an  opinion  in  the 
matter,)  deem  it  but  simple  justice  to  state,  that  in  their  judgement,  the  remarks  of 
Mr.  Heywood,  in  the  particulars  indicated  by  reference  to  this  note,  were  untrue  in 
point  of  fact ;  and,  moreover,  were  an  unwarranted,  though  we  charitably  believe,  an 
unintentional  trespass  upon  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion. 

CHARLES  RUSSELL, 
WILLIAM  B.  GOODNOW, 
EDWARD  E.  HARTWELL. 


Rev.  Dr.  Allen  was  again  invited  to  speak.     He  said  : 

It  has  been  mentioned  to-day,  and  has  been  often  men- 
tioned, as  a  thing  very  peculiar  in  the  history  of  Princeton, 
that  a  people  so  intelligent,  considerate  and  conservative 
as  they  have  always  been,  should  have  such  a  history  with 
regard  to  the  ministry  in  the  town.  Since  I  came  into  the 
town,  a  man  said  to  me,  that  the  present  minister  of  the 
Church  here,  is  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth,  in  succession, 
and  that  no  man  has  ever  died  here,  holding  the  pastoral 
office.  He  said,  further,  that  the  town  did  not  contain  the 
remains  of  a  single  minister  of  the  Gospel,  of  any  denom- 
ination. I,  however,  satisfied  him  of  the  fact,  that  the  old 
burying  ground,  on  the  hill,  does  contain  the  remains  of  a 
native  of  this  town,  who  was  a  minister  of  the  Gospel. 

Why  is  it,  that  among  people  so  considerate,  and  so  con- 
servative, no  minister  has  ever  retained  the  pastoral  office 
till  called  away  by  death  ?  I  put  this  question  to  myself, 
and  I  answer  it  by  saying,  that  it  is  because  the  people 
have  been  so  religous,  and  had  such  exact  and  clear  views 
of  divine  truth.  I  will  mention,  as  an  illustration,  an  anec- 
dote. A  gentleman  was  invited  to  become  a  pastor  of  one 
of  the  Churches  here.     After  considering  the  invitation  for 


96 

sometime,  he  declined.  He  did  not,  then,  give  any  reason ; 
but  as  the  people  expressed  some  disappointment  at  his 
not  accepting  their  invitation,  he  told  them  that  he  did  not 
decline  the  invitation  for  want  of  salary,  for  they  had 
offered  him  as  much  as  he  expected.  To  some  of  my 
friends  in  another  town,  he  gave  the  following  reason: 
"  When  I  learned  how  well  informed  the  people  were  on 
all  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  when  1  saw  every 
eye  fixed  on  me,  and  scanning  me,  I  felt  as  if  I  was 
preaching  to  an  assembly  of  Puritan  divines,  and  that  I 
was  not  competent  to  become  the  minister  of  such  a 
people.  I  declined  the  invitation  solely  on  that  ground." 
That  minister  is  still  living.  I  think  the  strong  religious 
character,  the  clear  and  exact  views  of  divine  truth,  and 
the  great  importance  which  the  people  here  attached  to 
every  part  of  the  system  of  religion  which  they  had 
embraced,  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  changes  in  their 
ministry. 

I  have  heard  people  in  the  towns  around  say  :  "  How 
the  people  in  Princeton  quarrel  about  religion."  But  it 
was  no  quarrelling,  in  their  view.  They  were  only  "  con- 
tending earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
Saints."  They  could  not  only  tell  what  they  believed,  but 
give  reason  upon  reason,  from  morning  till  night.  It  was 
no  mere  disputation,  no  quarrelling,  no  wrangling.  No. 
They  did  it  from  the  highest  and  holiest  feelings. 

I  will  make  a  remark  upon  one  thing,  which  I  believe  is 
not  alluded  to  in  the  histories  of  this  town.  There  are 
some  things  concerning  individuals,  and  families,  and  com- 
munities, which  can  be  learned  only  by  observation.  It 
was  remarked  that  the  people  of  this  town  were  a  noble 
people  in  their  intellectual  character,  and  in  their  political 
and  religious  principles  and  conduct.  But  they  were  a 
noble  class  of  people  in  another  respect — physically, 
bodily.  I  never  saw  such  a  generation  of  men.  I  have 
had  much,  observation  of  mankind,  and  a  large  experience 
of  the  world,  but  I  never  saw  such  men  as  were  here  forty 


97 

and  fifty  years  ago.  I  presume  those  who  are  old,  and 
growing  old,  like  myself,  will  be  of  the  same  opinion.  A 
stranger  in  the  town,  once  attended  the  old  church  on  the 
hill,  and  he  afterward  remarked  how  he  was  struck  with  the 
appearance  of  the  people.  He  never  saw  such  people, 
men  and,  women,  sons  and  daughters.  He  said  he  was 
reminded  of  the  story  in  the  book  of  Joshua,  where  the 
spies  reported  that  they  saw  the  Anakims — giants — in  the 
land,  and  "  we  were  in  our  own  sight  as  grasshoppers,  and 
so  were  we  in  their  sight."  I  remembered,  said  he,  that 
the  Bible  says  the  Anakims  lived  "  in  the  hill'country,"  and 
I  supposed  they  were  extinct,  till  I  came  here ;  but  I  find 
thoy  are  still  living  "  in  the  hill  country,"  around  about 
Wachusett,  and  among  the  other  hills  of  Princeton. 

The  next  sentiment  was  : 

No.  18.  Old  Princeton — The  good  old  days  of  Princeton,  made  glorious 
by  the  solid  worth,  true  valor,  and  wise  patriotism  of  our  fathers.  May 
her  sons  perpetuate  her  virtues. 

Mr.  Everett — The  next  sentiment  has  reference  to  the 
old  men  and  women  who  still  linger  with  us,  but  who  will 
soon  pass  away  to  the  spirit  land. 

No.  19,  The  Old  Men  and  Women  of  Princeton — May  their  last  days 
be  their  best,  and  their  last  pleasures  the  sweetest.  May  their  declining 
sun  shed  mellow  beams  of  light  on  their  posterity,  and  set  in  glory. 

The  President — If  there  is  no  one  prepared  to  respond 
to  this  sentiment,  we  will  proceed  to  the  next. 

Mr.  Everett — I  wish  we  might  have  some  volunteer 
sentiments,  with  such  remarks  as  gentlemen  may  please  to 
ofi"er.  We  have  shaken  the  hearts  of  many  friends  through 
their  hands,  to-day,  and  I  would  like  to  hear  from  some  of 
them  this  evening. 

The  President — I  am  happy  to  know  that  Capt.  Amos 
13 


98 

Merriam,  from  the  city  of  spindles,  (Lowell,)  is  here.     We 
shall  be  pleased  to  hear  a  word  from  him. 

Capt.  Merriam  being  thus  called  out,  said  : 

I  am  not  a  literary  man,  and  you  must  not  expect  a  long 
speech  from  me.  I  have  come  up  here  to-day,  t6  see  and 
hear,  and  I  have  been  extremely  gratified  with  what  I  have 
seen  and  heard.  I  have  not  been  in  this  town  for  many 
years — nearly  or  quite  a  quarter  of  a  century — and  most 
of  the  old  inhabitants  I  recognize  to-day.  At  the  time  I 
left  the  place,  there  was  not  a  family  here  that  I  did  not 
know  very  well,  having  occupied  a  position  that  led  me  to 
a  general  acquaintance  with  the  people  of  the  town.  I 
was,  for  many  years,  a  Selectman,  and  an  Overseer  of  the 
Poor,  and  was,  also,  a  Surveyor,  so  that  I  was  led  to  know 
the  pe.ople  in  all  parts  of  the  town. 

I  rejoice  that  I  have  been  permitted  to  meet  so  many  of 
you  whom  I  once  knew,  and  to  listen  to  the  speeches  and 
sentiments  that  have  been  uttered.  They  have  brought 
back  to  my  mind  the  sterling  virtues  of  this  people. 
The  glory  and  happiness  of  the  people  here,  does  not 
consist  in  their  numbers,  but  in  their  character,  and  I  think  I 
can  bear  my  testimony  fully,  that  the  true  character  of  the 
people  has  been  expressed  in  the  addresses  to  which  I  have 
had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to-day. 

I  will  not  occupy  your  time  any  further,  but  will  offer,  as 
a  sentiment,  a  few  words  : 

This  Centennial  Day  to  celebrate  we  meet, 
Our  friends  to  see,  and  them  to  greet. 
Before  returns  another  Anniversary  day, 
Three  generations  will  have  passed  away. 
Then  to  all  that's  good  and  great  aspire, 
Like  yonder  mountain,  beckoning  higher. 
That  Princeton's  sons  and  daughters,  yet  unborn, 
May  bless  the  world  that  they  adorn. 

The  President — We  have  with  us  an  adopted  son,  who 
is  somewhat  advanced  in  years,  as  many  of  the  rest  of  us 


99 

are,  who  has   spent  many  years  in  Princeton.      Let  me 
introduce  to  you  Thomas  Wilder,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — I  am  happy  to 
embrace  this  opportunity,  to  speak  of  one,  whose  name 
lias  not  been  much  mentioned  on  this  occasion.  One,  who, 
half  a  century  ago,  was  known  as  Master  Woods.  In  1802, 
he  conveyed  me  here  from  Ashburnham,  on  the  seventh  of 
June.  We  rode  on  horseback,  and  he  gave  me  a  very 
interesting  account  of  every  family  between  these  places, 
pointing  out  the  building  where  Sam  Frost  killed  his 
father ;  the  place  where  the  girl  was  lost ;  the  eastern  part 
of  Wachusett,  where  Frost  killed  Captain  Allen,  and  the 
tree  on  which  he  climbed  to  w^atch  the  funeral  obsequies 
of  his  victim. 

Master  Woods  was  greeted  by  his  appropriate  appella- 
tion, by  old  and  young,  where  he  was  known.  This  led 
the  boy  who  had  taken  passage  upon  the  same  animal  with 
him,  without  a  pillion,  to  inquire  into  his  antecedents.  I 
soon  learned  one  important  fact,  that  he  was  the  first 
school-master  of  the  town,  and  being  self-taught,  under- 
stood how  to  teach  others.  Being  a  man  of  thought,  he 
strove  to  promote  it  by  questions  suited  to  elicit  thought, 
and  propounding  problems  to  be  solved  by  induction,  thus 
giving  to  minds  a  stimulus  to  develop  itself,  without 
depending  much  upon  artificial  helps ;  consequently,  a 
goodly  number  of  intellectual  inhabitants,  of  both  sexes, 
came  forward,  honorable  to  the  town  and  country.  We 
need  look  no  further  than  his  own  family  for  illustrations. 
I  might  speak  of  numbers,  but  will  particularize  but  one, 
his  oldest  son  by  his  last  wife,  Leonard,  whose  germ, 
under  paternal  culture,  gave  hopeful  promise,  and 
who,  encouraged  by  the  means  of  education,  which  at 
that  time  the  public  schools  afi'orded,  graduated  at  Harvard 
with  the  highest  honors  of  the  College,  and  whose  writings 
are  said  to  be  the  most  lucid  in  the  English  language, 
and  are  read  in  all  the  enlightened  parts  of  the  world  from 


100 

his  works,  while  he  filled  the  chair  of  Theology,  at  Andover 
Seminary.  As  like  causes  produce  like  effects,  it  may  be 
seen  that  the  inductive  principle  which  wrought  so  effect- 
ually in  Dr.  Woods  the  senior,  has  been  not  less  so  in  Dr. 
Woods  junior,  now  President  of  Bowdoin  College,  and 
who  ranks  among  the  first  literary  men  of  our  country. 

Master  Woods  did  a  great  deal  of  public  business,  and 
my  youthful  mind  was  led  to  inquire,  why  he  had  not  an 
Esquire  commission.  Well,  Hon.  Moses  Gill,  being  a  mag- 
istrate sufficient  for  the  business  of  the  town,  at  that  early 
period,  the  office,  if  conferred,  would  have  been  rather 
sinecure.  Yet,  it  was  prior  to  the  Gerrymander,  synony- 
mous with  districting  the  State  for  political  effect,  under 
the  administration  of  Governor  Gerry,  which  all  Federal- 
ists thought  almost  unpardonable.  And  Rev.  Mr.  Holcom, 
of  Sterling,  at  a  supper,  where  poetic  freedom  was 
lawful,  remarked  it  was  the  greatest  piece  of  wickedness 
ever  committed  since  the  rebellion  of  the  fallen  angels. 
How  much  political  hire  was  used  to  effect  the  object,  I 
am  unable  to  say,  but  Esq.'s  came  forth  like  locusts  for 
multitude.  Rev.  Thomas  Mason,  of  Northfield,  Represen- 
tative of  the  town  for  many  years,  was  a  son  of  Princeton, 
brother  of  the  venerable  Joseph  Mason,  now  living  on 
the  old  farm,  between  eighty  and  ninety  years  old,  pos- 
sessed of  mental  vigor  competent  to  grapple  with  almost 
any  subject,  and  who,  by  industry,  economy  and  prudence, 
has  furnished  a  rich  legacy  for  the  town.  The  above  rev- 
erend gentleman,  while  sitting  upon  a  splendid  horse,  was 
asked  why  he  did  not  ride  an  humble  ass,  as  did  the  great 
preacher  when  he  entered  Jerusalem,  replied,  he  was 
unwilling  to  ride  a  jackass,  for  Gerry  had  made  them  all 
Esq.'s. 

But  Esq.  Gill,  afterwards  Lieutenant  Governor,  conferred 
upon  Master  Woods,  a  more  honorable  than  civil  title,  even 
the  well-earned  appellation  of  Philosopher,  and  Avhen  he 
had  visitors  of  philosophic  minds,  he  would  send  for  his 
Philosopher,  and  thus  introduce  him.     As  he  was  wont  to 


101        .     '.^ ',,;  "  V-' :''  i'!  : 

wear  a  leather  apron  at  home,  he  was  not  careful  to  put  it 
off  on  those  occasions.  It  served  the  double  purpose  of 
preserving  some  portions  of  his  dress,  and  also,  as  parch- 
ment for  data,  and  a  substitute  for  sand,  on  which  John 
Newton  studied  EucHd  upon  the  shores  of  Africa.  When 
his  cogitations  were  interrupted,  he  would  make  a  mark  to 
indicate  his  soundings.  His  apron  was  covered  with 
figures,  signs,  or  hieroglyphics. 

Mr.  President,  I  am  aware  by  what  title  I  have  been 
introduced  to  this  platform ;  but,  sir,  the  paper  emanating 
from  the  Council  chamber,  came  to  me  most  unexpectedly, 
and  knowing  there  were  more  magistrates  in  Ware  village, 
in  which  place  I  then  resided,  than  the  business  of  the  place 
demanded,  I  thought  the  best  use  I  could  make  of  it  would 
be  to  lock  it  up  for  safe  keeping,  unaccompanied  by  any 
law,  hoping  it  might  tend  to  check  the  exuberance  of 
Esq.'s. 

No.  20.  The  memory  of  our  Fathers — By  all  tfieir  deeds  of  noble 
daring,  by  all  their  toils  and  sacrifices  in  planting  institutions  for  our 
enjoyment,  by  their  manly  virtue  and  holy  example,  we  will  cherish  their 
memories  for  ever. 

To  this  sentiment,  the  Rev.  Arthur  B.  Fuller,  of 
Watertown,  responded  as  follows  : 

Mr.  President,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — I  should 
feel  some  doubt  about  trespassing  again  on  your  attention 
and  time,  were  it  not  that  the  strain  of  remark  which  I 
felt  obliged  to  offer  this  afternoon,  did  not  embrace  one  or 
two  thoughts  of  that  more  serious  and  solemn  character, 
which  seem  to  be  becoming  to  this  place  and  this  hour  ; 
and  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  standing 
in  the  town  where  an  ancestor  of  mine  preached  the 
gospel  as  he  believed  it,  I  feel  that  there  are  one  or  two 
topics  upon  which  I  would  speak  here  and  now. 

My  remarks  this  afternoon,  were  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  any  undeserved  imputation  which  rested  on  the 
patriotism   of  an  ancestor   of  mine.     I   propose   now  to 


.  i  ;^;  /! 's-'  i  '  ^^2 

respond  to  the  sentiment  just  offered,  and  which  seems  to  me 
be  full  of  nobleness.  I  recall  much  that  I  have  learned 
from  a  father  and  uncles  of  those  who  early  lived  here,  for 
my  family  have  ever  treasured  each  leaf  on  which  the  dear 
name  of  Princeton  was  written  ;  and  from  those  records,  I 
gather  some  knowledge  of  their  fathers  and  yours.  I 
gather  the  impressions  which  were  indelibly  written  on 
their  minds.  I  recall  'some  of  the  accounts  which  they 
gave  when  they  came  here  every  year  to  sing  again  Zion's 
songs,  and  I  feel  that  your  ancestors  and  mine  were 
generally  pious,  noble  men,  and  that  their  memory  deserves 
to  be  cherished.  I  rejoice  in  this  Centennial  Celebration, 
tliat  it  was  put  into  the  hearts  of  this  people  to  come  up 
here  and  keep  this  joyous  day;  and  it  seems  to  me  we 
ought  to  have  something  more  of  the  serious  and  devout 
cast  given  to  our  thoughts,  which  the  occasion  is  so  well 
calculated  to  suggest. 

I  remember  hearing  my  grandfather  spoken  of  as  one 
who  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  in  his  visits 
to  the  chambers  of  the  sick  and  dying ;  I  have  a  record, 
kept  by  him,  of  the  bereavements  of  the  families  here."^ 
I  find  a  record  of  children,  breathing  out  their  last  sigh ; 
of  old  men,  by  whom  he  offered  the  prayer  which  wafted 
on  the  wings  of  faith  the  spirit  upward;  of  mothers  in 
Israel  giving  their  last  counsel  to  childhood,  as  they  had 
given  the  first  smile  that  was  the  earliest  sunlight  that  fell 
on  the  infant  heart.  I  know,  then,  something  of  the  fathers 
of  those  who  dwell  here  to-day.  That  grandfather  of 
mine  was  never  accused  of  any  dereliction  of  duty — his 
moral  integrity  was  as  unmovable  as  yonder  mountain, 
(Wachusett,)  and  pointed  upward  directly  as  does  that 
hill.  And  even  as  to  the  charge  that  "  he  did  not  catechise 
the  children" — I  presume  the  children  were  willing  to 
excuse  him,  if  it  were  so — it  was  said  that  they  had  not 


*  Subsequently  presented,  with  the  first  covenant,  to  the  Church  in  Prinoeton,lby  the 
speaker. 


103 

the  shadow  of  a  reason  for  the  charge  that  was  made 
against  him. 

As  I  came  here  to-day,  and  saw  your  decorations,  it 
seemed  to  me  you  scarcely  needed  to  "  hang  your  banner 
on  the  outer  wall,"  as  I  saw  the  whole  landscape  decked 
with  beauty,  as  though  decorated  to  honor  the  God  who 
had  created  and  fashiooed  these  everlasting  hills  ;  when  I 
saw  these  rich  hues  of  Autumn  so  gorgeously  displayed,  I 
felt  there  was  a  banner  floating  in  every  breeze,  even  as 
though  God  had  garnished  the  scene  for  such  an  occasion 
as  this. 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  want  to  enlarge  the  sentiment ;  I 
believe  in  a  religion  that  holds  in  honor  every  man  and 
woman  who  loves  God,  and  Jesus  his  Son,  and  humanity, 
for  which  that  Son  died.  Love  to  God,  to  Christ,  to  man 
— that  is  my  Christianity.  My  creed  is,  that  every  human 
being  who  endeavors  to  elevate  mankind,  deserves  to  be 
regarded  as  a  brother,  or  sister,  or  moth-er  of  every  true 
man.  (Applause.)  And  to  all  such,  of  every  race  of  every 
period,  and  of  each  sex,  I  would  fain  do  impartial  justice. 
I  wish  now  to  include  the  mothers  of  this  town  in  your 
sentiment  of  commendation.  Too  often,  in  doing  justice 
to  man,  we  forget  our  sister  woman  ;  too  often  the  memory 
of  the  fathers  is  permitted  to  overshadow  that  of  noble 
mothers.  I  wish  to  speak  of  one  of  those  mothers  in 
Israel — my  noble  and  sainted  grandmother,  once  an  honored 
resident  of  this  town.  Rev.  Timothy  Fuller,  in  going  to 
Sandwich,  met  a  young  lady  who  had  charms  not  only  of 
person,  but  of  mind  and  spirit,  a  daughter  of  the  patriotic 
Rev.  Abraham  Williams,  who  sent  three  sons  into  the 
revolutionary  fight.  That  mother  said,  "  Go  ;  serve  your 
country  well ;  we  will  take  care  of  ourselves."  One  of 
those  sons  died  in  a  prison  ship  of  Great  Britain.  Rev. 
Timothy  Fuller  married  a  sister  of  those  brave  young  men, 
Miss  Sarah  Williams,  of  Sandwich.  During  that  revolu- 
tionary struggle,  her  father  resigned  his  salary,  so  that  his 
people   might  not    be   impoverished.     That   woman  was 


104 

worthy  of  such  a  sire,  and  of  the  mother  who  bore  her ; 
she  instilled  heroic  and  honorable  principles  in  her  chil- 
dren, who,  if  they  did  not  include  my  father  and  uncles,  I 
should  say  were  an  honor  to  this  place.  One,  my  venera- 
ble father,  became  a  member  of  Congress,  a  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts,  a  man,  of 
whom  I  may,  without  impropriety,  say,  that  he  honored 
the  place  from  which  he  came.     (Applause.) 

Ah,  sir,  we  are  not  to  forget  such  mothers,  who,  in  the 
quietude  of  their  homes,  by  the  simplicity  and  beauty  of 
their  daily  lives,  by  their  unwearied  and  unceasing  care, 
and  in  answer  to  their  saintly  prayers,  shape  and  mould 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  men  of  this  and  all  other  lands, 
and  impart  to  them  the  larger  portion  of  what  in  them  is 
great  and  noble. 

"The  mothers  of  our  forest-land — 

Their  bosoms  pillow'd  men, 
And  proud  were  they  by  such  to  stand, 

In  hammock,  fort  or  glen  ; 
To  load  the  sure  old  rifle, 

To  run  the  leaden  ball, 
To  watch  a  battling  husband's  place, 

And  fill  it  should  he  fall ; 
No  braver  dames  had  Sparta, 

No  nobler  matrons  Rome, 
Yet  who  or  lauds  or  honors  them. 

E'en  in  their  mountain  home." 

One,  at  least,  Mr.  President,  shall  stand  here  to-day,  and 
do  them  honor,  and  I  know  that  my  word  on  this  topic 
will  awaken  a  response  in  all  your  hearts. 

That  "  honorable  woman  "  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  and 
who  once  dwelt  amid  these  beautiful  scenes,  and  loved  and 
cherished  her  country's  cause,  and  was  willing,  as  was 
her  mother,  to  sacrifice  for  it,  and  even  consented  that 
her  worthy  husband,  your  minister,  should  fight  in  its 
behalf,  if  need  be,  (as  he  bravely  profi'ered  this  town  to 
do,)  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  its  patriotic  "  minute  men" — 
that  woman,  I  say,  was  fit  to  be  commemorated  to-day  as 


105 

the  ancestor  of  another  woman  no  less  noble,  and  of  whom 
America  is  justly  proud, — Margaret  Fuller, — who  was  her 
descendant,  who  sacrificed  so  much  for  liberty  in  fair 
Italy,  who  suffered  privation  in  Rome  during  its  besiege- 
ment,  and  soothed  and  comforted  the  wounded  Romans, 
bleeding  for  their  country's  cause,  and  fighting  against 
spiritual,  intellectual  and  physical  bondage. 

But,  sir,  there  is  yet  another  thought  that  I  wish  to 
suggest  now.  We  have  had  many  sons  and  daughters  who 
have  come  back  here  to-day,  some  who  were  never  here 
before  ;  but  there  has  been  some  one  here,  too,  who  was 
also  here  a  few  years  after  the  settlement  of  this  place, 
and  that  is,  the  ^' Angel  of  Death."  I  could  not  go  away, " 
and  do  justice  to  my  own  feelings,  if  I  did  not  call  your 
attention  to  the  fact  that  we  have  had  a  discourse — a 
sermon  preached  to  us  in  the  midst  of  our  festivities.  We 
have  gathered  here,  this  Autumnal  day,  and,  in  our  joyous- 
ness,  who  thought  the  "  angel  reaper  "  so  near,  and  ready 
to  bear  away  another  sheaf  of  his  endless  harvest?  The 
falling  leaf  spoke  to  us  of  mortality,  yet,  perchance,  we 
heeded  not.  We  plaintively  asked,  in  reference  to  your 
ancestors  and  the  ministers  who  here  once"  dispensed  the 
word  "  in  this  place — "  Our  fathers,  where  are  they  ?  and  the 
prophets — do  they  live  forever.?"  But,  did  our  own  mor- 
tality come  here  to  us  ?  Did  we  think  death  might  be 
knocking  at  the  very  door  of  some  of  our  tabernacles 
of  clay,  even  when  we  were  celebrating  the  memory  of 
those  who  are  gone  ?  0,  it  could  not  be,  that  to-day  w© 
were  to  be  greeted  with  that  awful  word  of  warning — 
to-day,  in  our  joyousness,  hear  the  solemn  voice,  saying  : 
"  Ye,  too,  must  die  !  "  And  yet,  so  it  is, — never  are  we 
exempt  from  the  Destroyer's  presence. 

"  Leaves  have  their  time  to  fall, 

And  flowers  to  wither  at  the  north  wind's  breath, 
And  stars  to  set — but  all, 

Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  0  Death  !  " 

One  who  bore  the  name  of  one  of  the  old  settlers — the 
U 


106 

name  of  Mirick — dropped  dead  to-day,  and  it  seems  as 
though  God  had  preached  a  lesson  to  us,  and  given  to  the 
minister  of  this  pulpit  something  to  say  next  Sabbath — 
something  for  me  to  say,  and  that  I  should  be  false  to  my 
duty,  if  I  did  not  say,  that  we  are  not  only  to  remember 
the  fathers,  but  we  are  to  remember  that  we  are  to  meet 
them  soon.  I  have  sought  to  do  justice  to  the  memory  of 
one,  who,  for  a  time,  was  falsely  accused ;  see  that  you  do 
him  justice,  also.  When  I  go  up  to  the  banks  of  the 
Merrimac,  in  New  Hampshire,  and  see  the  stone  erected 
there  to  the  memory  of  the  first  minister  of  this  place — a 
man  who  deserves  to  be  perpetually  honored  here,  where 
he  so  faithfully  labored;  who  was  not  alone  your  minister, 
but  afterwards  your  representative  in  the  Convention 
which  ratified  our  Federal  Constitution,  whose  pro-slavery 
clauses  received  his  emphatic  protest,  and  required  his 
reluctant  vote  against  that  instrument — I  think  the  citizens 
should  remove  that  honored  dust  here,  so  that  there  may 
be,  not  only  the  dust  of  one  who  had  ministered  here,  but 
especially  of  the  one  who  first  preached  the  Gospel  in  this 
place ;  or,  if  it  be  too  late  for  that,  at  least  erect  a  fitting 
memorial  to  him,  in  your  church-yard,  where  the  silent 
dust  of  one  of  his  children  reposes.  Were  it  needful,  you 
might  call  on  me  for  my  full  proportion  of  pecuniary  aid 
in  such  a  work  as  that.     (Applause.) 

My  friends,  you  do  indeed  well  to  cherish  the  memory 
of  such  fathers  and  mothers  as  I  have  sought  to  commem- 
orate. For,  changing  the  phraseology,  if  it  could  be  done 
so  as  to  include  heroic  and  holy  women,  as  well  as  men, 
what  heart  does  not  echo  those  familiar  words  :  • 

*' Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 

We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 

Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time  ; 

Footprints,  that  perhaps  another-^ 

Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main. 
Some  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother, 

Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again." 


107 

The  Hon.  Charles  T.  Russell,  of  Boston,  the  Orator  of 
the  day,  being  called  out,  spoke  as  follows : 

Mr.  President : — I  certainly  concur  most  heartily  in  all 
that  has  been  said — so  well,  so  beautifully  said — by  my 
friend  Fuller,  who  has  just  taken  his  seat,  of  the  love  for 
those  who  are  gone,  and,  I  may  add,  the  love  for  those  who 
are  living.  There  is  no  place  beyond  my  own  fireside  and 
home,  that  I  visit  with  so  much  interest  as  this  spot,  where 
I  received  my  birth,  and  where  I  received  my  early  educa- 
tion ;  where  I  have  always  found  sympathy  and  love,  and 
honor,  far  beyond,  I  am  afraid,  what  I  deserve.  And  I 
desire  here  and  now,  and  always,  to  thank  the  people  of 
Princeton  for  the  good  they  have  done  me  by  their  insti- 
tutions, and  more  than  all,  by  their  good  and  holy  example. 
I  had  well  hoped  that,  after  my  long,  and,  I  fear,  wearisome 
address  this  morning,  I  should  not  be  called  upon  to  speak 
to  you  again,  at  least  to-day.  When  I  was  coming  up  here, 
a  Princeton  man  told  me  a  little  anecdote,  that  may  illus- 
trate my  position.  He  said,  that  some  few  years  ago, 
he  was  called  upon  by  a  man  to  butcher  a  couple  of  hogs 
for  him.  They  were  enormous,  raw-boned  creatures,  big 
enough  to  weigh  five  hundred  pounds  apiece,  exactly  what 
our  old  friend,  now  dead  and  gone,  Mr.  Zeke  Davis,  would 
call  "  working  hogs."  "When  he  came  to  cut  them,  however, 
there  was  no  pork  thicker  than  that,  (indicating  by  a 
measure  of  the  finger,)  in  them.  The  butcher  sent  them 
home  by  a  waggish  boy  of  his,  who,  as  he  took  them  out 

of  the  wagon,  said  to  the  owner :     "  Mr. — ,  don't  you 

want  to  buy  some  good  salt  pork?"  "No  sir,"  said  he, 
"  what  shSuld  I  want  to  buy  salt  pork  for  ;  have  I  not  got 
these  two  hogs  ?  "  "  Well,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  did  not  know 
but  you  would  like  to  get  a  little  to  fry  yourn  in.''  (Laughter.) 
I  thought  that  by  the  time  I  got  through  that  long 
address,  with  its  propositions,  like  the  dry  bones  in  EzekiePs 
vision,  very  many  and  very  dry,  you  would  want  a  little 
good  pork  to  fry  mine  in,  and  would  not  call  on  me  again. 
And  I  am  happy  to  say,  you  have  been  eminently  success- 


108 

fill,  and  that  even  the  leanness  and  meagreness  of  my  part 
of  the  forenoon  service,  has  been  made  very  palatable,  by 
the  rich  and  superb  material  in  which  you  have  this  after- 
noon "  fried  it." 

,  As  I  came  up  here,  with  an  address  prepared  under  the 
pressure  of  so  recent  an  invitation,  I  relied  upon  the  same 
security  as  that  Princeton  boy,  who  consoled  his  companion, 
who,  with  torn  pantaloons,  was  snivelling  along  home  from 
school.  Said  his  sympathizing  mate  :  '*  Have  not  you  got 
any  good  old  grandmother  at  home,  who  will  make  all 
straight  there  ?"  So  I  knew,  from  long  experience,  I  had 
a  most  excellent  and  indulgent  grandmother  here,  in  my 
native  town,  who  would  forgive  anything  herself,  and 
make  anybody  else  forgive  it,  too. 

I  have,  to-day,  aimed  only  to  tell  you  a  plain  and  simple 
story — homely,  but  not  wholly  useless  and  uninteresting  to 
us,  I  hope.  I  have  felt,  all  day,  much  like  apologizing  to  you 
in  the  language  of  an  old  friend  we  all  knew,  now  long  dead 
and  gone,  but  whom  you  will  recognize  at  once.  He  went 
to  one  of  the  militia  reviews,  and  when  the  inspector  (I 
believe  I  get  the  right  officer — Major  Cobb  ?)  came  along, 
presented  his  gun  and  accoutrements  for  examination. 
Everything  required  by  law  and  custom  was  there.  There 
was  the  priming-wire  and  brush,  flint,  box,  and  everything 
to  complete  the  equipment.  "  But,"  said  the  inspector, 
"your  gun  looks  rather  rusty  and  black."  "  Yes,"  said  he, 
*'  I  know  it ;  but  I  use  it  for  hunting  sometimes,  and  thought 
it  wa'nt  best  to  scour  it — make  it  glammer  so  it  wouldn't  kill 
no  squirrels."  For  the  same  reason,  I  came  bringing  the  old 
gun  just  as  it  was.  I  thought  I  wouldn't  scoui»  it,  lest  it 
should  "  glammer  so,"  I  shouldn't  even  hit  a  squirrel  with  it. 

Indeed,  so  rusty  and  old-fashioned  am  I,  that  I  cannot 
quite  catch  the  step  with  all  my  young  friends,  who  have 
preceded  me  this  evening,  and  who  have  spoken  so 
eloquently  on  their  favorite  topics.  Much  as  I  dislike  the 
evils  of  which  some  have  spoken, — and  I  do,  most  exceed- 
ingly,— ^I  cannot  quite  agree  with  everything  that  has  been 


109 

said  upon  men  and  measures.  So  you  will  allow  me  to 
dissent  wherever  I  like,  our's  being  a  free  atmosphere,  and 
free  highways,  where  every  man  is  permitted  to  ride  his 
own  hobbyhorse,  provided  no  one  is  asked  to  get  up 
behind  him.  Perhaps  I  am  like  an  old  friend  and  towns- 
man, in  the  memory  of  many  younger  than  I  am.  For 
years  he  beat  the  martial  drum  here  for  the  militia,  so 
pleasantly  alluded  to  by  my  friend,  the  poet,  to-day.  I 
I  believe  he  did  so,  back,  even,  almost  to  Eevolutionary 
days.  All  went  well,  till,  in  turn,  the  more  enterprising 
youngsters  got  up  the  Light  Infantry,  in  blue  trousers  and 
shiny  buttons.  They  must  needs  have  drumming  of  a 
more  stirring,  exciting,  fashionable,  quickstep  style.  So 
they  got  a  modern  drummer  of  skill,  to  their  liking,  who 
put  in  every  modern  beat,  with  all  its  fantastic  elegance. 
You  remember,  Mr.  President,  how,  one  day,  the  old 
drummer  stood  in  your  store  door,  when  the  company 
went  by,  in  all  the  gay  movement  of  -a  recent  march. 
"  Ah  !  "  said  he,  "  Squire  Russell,  I  like  the  good  old  common 
time  ruh-a-dub-duh ;  but  Cobb  puts  in  the  flourishes — the 
Old  Harry  couldn't  march  after  him."  I  cannot  say  how  it 
may  be  with  that  distinguished  personage.  He  is  quite 
apt  to  get  the  lock  step  even  with  us,  if  we  are  not  pretty 
careful  when  we  put  in  our  extra  flourishes.  Now,  some 
of  our  young  friends  "  put  in  the  flourishes,"  of  most 
modern  style,  and  if  I  can't  march  after  them,  I  hope  it  is 
not  because  I  resemble  the  "  Old  Harry,"  but  because  old- 
fashioned  and  conservative,  I  prefer  '^the  good  old  common 
Eevolutionary  time  rub-a-dub-dub.'^ 

Mr.  President,  some  who  have  preceded  me,  have  dwelt 
upon  the  ancient  institutions  of  the  town.  Allow  me  a 
word,  for  what  I  may  call  some  of  the  mediasval  ones. 
My  friend  Wilder  has  spoken  of  his  old  school-master, 
Woods.  I  remember  an  old  school-master  here,  too  ;  and 
when  I  saw  that  same  master,  my  friend  Wilder  himself,  I 
seemed  to  sink  right  down  into  the  little  green  petticoat  I 
used  to  wear,  and  my  perpendicular  master  stood  right 


no 

before  me,  teaching  me  my  ABC.  There  was  the  very 
book,  with  all  the  pictures : 

"  A,  was  an  archer,  and  shot  at  a  frog  ; 
B,  was  a  butcher,  and  kept  a  great  dog." 

Why,  upon  earth,  the  archer  shot  at  such  game,  I  could 
never  understand  ;  it  seemed  to  me  poor  business.  If  it 
would  not  have  been  a  couplet  that  nobody  would  have 
believed,  I  always  fancied  it  would  have  been : 

*'  A,  was  an  archer,  and  shot  at  a  peep, 

And  B,  was  a  butcher,  and  sold  his  meat  cheap." 

(Laughter.)     Then  came  C;  and  he  was 

"  A  captain  all  covered  with  lace." 

That  was  our  Captain  Merriam. 

"  D,  was  a  drunkard,  and  had  a  red  face." 

That  fellow  was  a  stranger,  and  lived  out  of  town,  and 
only  came  up  here  "  'Lection  days  ;"  (laughter)  and  so  on, 
to  the  end. 

Then  there  was  the  now  defunct  Light  Infantry.  I 
remember  the  first  time  they  came  out.  0,  how  my  mili- 
tary admiration  burst  out  at  May  training,  and  culminated 
in  the  sham  fight,  at  Lancaster  muster,  when  the  Princeton 
boys  put  it  to  the  Sterling  fellows,  to  the  last  cartridge, 
and  till  they  were  all  as  dry  of  ammunition  as  the  old  con- 
tinentals of  Bunker  Hill.  We  put  it  to  them  just  as  we  have 
to  the  men  of  old  Sutton,  and  Barre,  and  Marlboro',  every 
Cattle-show  day,  for  twenty-five  years  back,  and  just  as  we 
mean  to  for  a  hundred  to  come — only  more.  (Laughter 
and  applause.) 

Then  there  was  the  Engine  Company.  We  had  an 
engine  once, — a  distinguished  citizen  gave  it  to  the  town. 
I  remember  when  it  was  brought  out,  and  you,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, and  Colonel  Whitney,  and  Captain  Dana  and 
Merriam,  and  divers  of  those  patriotic  citizens  around  me. 


Ill 

were  at  the  brakes,  and,  I  think,  the  late  Mr.  Boylston  held 
the  "  nozzle."  (Laughter.)  So  they  worked  at  it,  steady  up 
and  down,  and  it  dreadfully  screeched,  and  screamed,  and 
squeaked,  but  not  the  drop  ot  water  would  the  ungrateful 
machine  squirt.  And  so  it  went  on,  till  a  facetious  towns- 
man came  along,  and  inquired  whether  that  was  "  really  an 
Ingun  or  only  a  Mulatto."     (Laughter.) 

Then  there  was  the  Singing  School,  kept  by  the  father 
of  our  friend  Howe,  where  I  spent  three  days,  trying  to 
bring  the  singing  of  that  excellent  singer  into  harmony 
with  mine.  But  1  could  never  get,  for  one  moment,  his 
"  fa,  sol,  la,"  to  agree  with  my  "  fa,  sol,  la,"  howsoever  I 
tried,  so  I  gave  it  up ;  but  not  the  Singing  School.  Ah. 
no  !  I  could  not  forego  that  for  mere  musical  disagree- 
ments. I  went  on  to  the  end ;  and  at  the  close  of  many  a 
Winter  evening,  while  they  were  pouring  forth  Coronation, 
Old  Hundred,  Dundee,  or  Plaintive  Martyrs,  (I  couldn't 
exactly  tell  which,)  in  a  harmony,  compared  with  which, 
"  Italian  trills  were  tame,"  I  was  distressing  myself  with 
the  embarrassing  question,  which  young  lady  I  should 
offer  to  go  home  with, — a  question,  sir,  neither  then  nor  now, 
among  the  rosy  cheeks  of  these  hills,  so  mighty  easy  of 
settlement,  for  a  sensitive  heart,  just  emerging  from  its 
teens.  (Applause.)  There  was  music  here  I  could  under- 
stand,— time,  tune,  scale  and  expression — "  piano,  dolce, 
affettuoso,  lentando,  pianissimo,"  from  soft  and  plaintive, 
to  the  very  softest. 

Then,  of  an  October  evening,  came  the  glorious  huskings. 
That  needs  no  description.  What  quantities  of  Indian 
pudding  here,  I  stowed  under  my  jacket,  on  some  of  these 
memorable  occasions,  at  my  good  old  grandfather's.  In 
the  remembrance  of  those  boyish  achievements,  how 
annoyed  I  have  sometimes  been,  at  the  capacity  of  the 
human  organs,  on  extraordinary  occasions. 

Again,  I  have  almost  listened,  since  I  came  here,  to  hear 
the  familiar  old  rattle  of  the  six-horse  Albany  stage, 
going  like  hghtning  down  yonder  hill,  with  Joe  Maynard 


112 

on  the  box,  cracking  his  whip  over  the  leuders.  And  it 
was  not  till  I  recollected  that  it  was  Thursday,  and  not 
Wednesday,  that  I  ceased  to  look  about  for  old  Basset's 
post,  peddling  some  ten  score  of  the  "  Massachusetts  Spy," 
from  West  Boylston  line  to  the  boundaries  of  Westminster. 
If  I  were  to  give  you  a  sentiment,  I  would  say : 

The  Institutions  of  Princeton — Not  the  ancient,  nor  the  modern,  but 
the  mediceval, — the  District  School,  the  Light  Infantry,  the  Engine  Com- 
pany, the  Singing  School,  the  Husking,  and  Joe  Maynard  and  old 
Bassett's  Stage. 

And  I  think  they  were  of  a  pretty  good  kind  of  institu- 
tions too.  In  the  lighter  frolics  and  humors  of  their  day, 
our  grandfathers  and  all  about  us  participated.  But  they 
engaged  in  all  these  sports  and  amusements  in  a  way 
consistent  with  a  deep  and  fervent  piety.  They  did  not 
suppose  that  religion  made  men  morose  and  unhappy,  but 
induced  a  reverence  for  God  and  a  respect  for  man.  And 
thus,  while  we  have  ever  had  a  moral  and  religious 
community,  as  such  communities  always  are,  I  will  venture 
to  say  there  was  not  a  happier,  perhaps,  I  might  say, 
merrier,  community  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Certainly 
we  boys  can  say  that  we  did  not  suffer  in  that  respect. 
But  my  time  is  quite  gone,  and  I  ought  not  to  trespass 
another  moment  on  your  patience.  I  only  add  :  Princeton 
— How  I  love  her;  God  bless  her  forever.     (Applause.) 

Prof.  Everett,  the  Poet  of  the  day,  was  the  next, 
speaker.     He  said : 

"  I  am  no  orator,  as  Brutus  is ;"  but  if  ever  I  wished  I 
were,  it  is  at  this  moment.  I  have  always  been  proud  of 
being  a  son  of  Princeton,  and  to-day  I  have  felt  more 
proud  than  ever.  When,  three  weeks  ago,  I  received  a 
request  to  prepare  a  poem  for  this  occasion,  I  told  my 
friends  that,  as  Princeton  had  produced  so  many  distin- 
guished men,  I  felt  greatly  flattered  by  the  compliment, 
and  I  felt  the  responsibility  of  a  hundred  years  resting 
upon  me. 


113 

Our  venerable  friend  from  Boston,  (Mr.  Wilder,)  has 
referred  to  Master  Woods,  as  an  excellent  teacher.  I  thank 
the  gentleman,  in  behalf  of  the  profession  to  which  I  have 
the  honor  to  belong,  for  the  merited  compliments  which 
he  has  paid  to  that  profession.  I  left  this  town  long  since, 
and  have  been  engaged  in  teaching,  constantly  providing 
laurels  for  the  brows  of  others,  though  I  have  provided 
none  for  my  own. 

Last  week  I  wrote  to  my  brother,  asking  him  to  give  me 
the  names  of  all  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  who  have  been 
born  in  this  town.  He  gave  me  the  names  of  nineteen. 
Last  Saturday  night,  as  I  went  to  the  Church  Library,  of 
which  I  happen  to  be  the  Librarian,  a  book  was  handed  to 
me,  called  "  The  Baptist  Pulpit, ^^  by  Dr.  Sprague.  In  this 
work,  he  has  given  the  names  of  the  most  distinguished 
ministers  of  that  denomination  who  have  lived  in  America. 
Among  them  I  found  the  name  of  Kev.  Dr.  Abel  Woods, 
the  oldest  son  of  Master  Woods.  Master-Woods  had  two 
sons  who  were  Doctors  of  Divinity.  Rev.  Abel  Woods, 
who  began  his  ministry  in  1790,  and  completed  it  in  1850, 
making  a  term  of  sixty  years  that  he  was  in  the  Gospel 
ministry.  His  oldest  son  was  President  of  a  College,  in 
Alabama,  and  now  resides  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 
Dr.  Leonard  Woods  was,  for  a  long  period,  a  Professor  of 
Divinity,  at  Andover,  and  his  son  is  a  Doctor  of  Divinity, 
and  President  of  a  College.  Then  Master  Woods  had  two 
sons  who  were  Doctoi's  of  Divinity,  and  two  grandsons 
who  were  also  Doctors  of  Divinity.  This  is  honor  enough 
for  one  school-master. 

I  have  one  word  to  say  about  the  mediaeval  institutions,  to 
which  reference  has  been  made.  We  are  here  acting  the  part 
of  Old  Mortality.  Those  of  you  who  are  familiar  with  the 
writings  of  Walter  Scott,  will  recollect  how  he  represents 
Old  Mortality,  as  going  about  in  the  grave-yards,  raising  up 
the  fallen  monuments,  and  etching  out  again  the  characters 
that  had  become  indistinct,  so  that  they  might  be  easily 
read  by  the  next  generation.  We,  to-day,  are  going  among 
15 


114 

the  graves  of  our  fathers,  etching  out  the  letters,  so  that 
the  next  generation  may  read  them,  and  hand  them  down 
for  a  hundred  years  more.  God  grant  that  their  suc- 
cessors may  do  the  same,  and  so  on,  till  the  last  syllable  of 
recorded  time. 

Let  me  refer  to  one  institution,  which  has  passed  away, 
and  which  we  would  not  revive.  It  was  not  peculiar  to 
our  fathers,  but  to  the  age.  It  was  the  institution  of  the 
Wine  Cup.  I  recollect  one  personification  of  that  institu- 
tion, in  old  Mr.  Elijah  Rice.  We  all  recollect  him — the 
dear  old  man.  Under  that  frock  which  he  wore,  although 
he  sometimes  carried  a  jug,  he  concealed  as  warm  a  heart 
as  ever  throbbed  in  a  human  bosom.  Many  a  time  have  I 
sat  in  my  father's  barn,  and  heard  him  tell  tales  of  the 
Revolution.  The  most  noble  ideas  I  have  of  Washington, 
were  kindled  at  those  huskings  from  the  stories  of  old 
Elijah  Rice.  Had  I  half  the  powers  of  description  which 
he  possessed,  I  would  relate  one  of  them.  Everybody, 
almost,  used  rum  in  those  days  ;  and  one  day  when  Mr. 
Rice  was  going  home  with  his  jug,  he  was  met  by  Ephraim 
Beaman,  Esq.  He  was  always  willing  to  be  met  anywhere. 
Mr.  Beaman  said,  in  a  very  hortatory  manner,  suitable  to 
the  occasion,  "You  love  your  worst  enemy,  Mr.  Rice." 
*'  We  are  commanded  to,"  was  his  quick  response. 

As  I  am  the  poet  of  the  next  hundred  years,  I  will 
venture  to  read  two  brief  odes,  one  of  which,  may  repre- 
sent the  emotions  with  which  our  fathers  regarded  the 
wine  cup,  and  the  other,  may  represent  our  own  feelings 
in  regard  to  it. 

THE  BACCHANAL'S  ODE. 

Sweet  soother  of  my  cares  and  cure  for  all  my  pains, 

Whether  thou  mantlest  with  Hispania's  treasure 
Or  juice  from  Rhine  or  brown  Italian  plains, 
Thou  art  a  source  of  purest  pleasure. 

When  blithe  Burns  sang  his  Jeanie's  praise 
And  brightened  every  feature, 
'Twas  wine  inspired  his  lays 
And  aided  nature. 


115 

Hail  sparkling  Wine  ! 
Far  dearer  than  the  Vine. 
I'll  drink  again 
My  bright  Champagne 
Yet  again ! 
Yet  again  ! 
It  inspires  my  song, 
Makes  a  short  life  long 
And  a  blessing, 
A  blessing, 
A  blessing. 
Still  again 
I'll  quaff  amain 
With  Bacchus' jolly  train. 
Till  giddy,  giddy,  giddy, 
And  quite  unable 
To  hold  my  cup 
Or  e'en  sit  up, 
The  lamps  all  whirl  round 
And  sleepy,  sleepy,  sleepy, 

I  fall  beneath  the  table 
Or  on  the  welcome  ground 
And  sunk  in  soft  repose,  I  sleep  in  peace 'profound. 


THE  BACCHANAL'S  PALINODE. 

Fell  author  of  my  cares  and  cause  of  all  my  pains, 
Whether  thou  temptest  with  Hispania's  treasure 
Or  juice  from  Rhine  or  brown  Italian  plains, 
Thou  poisonest  every  source  of  pleasure. 

Where  Burns  sung  Highland  Mary's  praise, 
And  colored  every  feature. 

Wine  ne'er  inspired  his  lays 
Or  aided  Nature. 

No  :  dearer  are  the  Nine 
Than  the  most  sparkling  Wine. 
I'll  ne'er  drink  again 
That  cursed  Champagne ! 
♦  Ne'er  again, 

Ne'er  again. 
It  hampers  my  verse, 
It  makes  life  a  curse 
And  a  burden, 
A  burden, 
A  burden. 


116 

I  never  again 
"Will  fever  my  brain. 
With  Bacchus'  ew^inish  train, 
Till  giddy,  giddy,  giddy, 
And  quite  unable 
To  hold  my  cup 
Or  e'en  sit  up 
The  lamps  all  whirl  round. 
And  sleepy,  sleepy,  sleepy, 

I  fell  beneath  the  table 
Or  on  the  cold  hard  ground, 
And  lie  in  dead  oblivion  lost  and  sleep  profound. 


Mr.  Everett,  (Toast-Master) : — With  your  permission,  I 
will  now  make  a  motion,  full  of  solemn  interest  to  all.  We 
have  reviewed  to-day,  the  century  that  has  just  passed,  and 
have  looked  into  the  graves  of  our  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  o^r  grandfathers  and  grandmothers.  I  move  that, 
after  we  have  listened  to  the  closing  hymn,  we  adjourn  to 
the  call  of  posterity,  one  hundred  years  hence. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  carried,  and  the  following 
hymn,  composed  by  William  E.  Richardson,  of  Boston,  a 
native  of  Princeton,  was  sung,  as  the  closing  exercise. 
Tune—"  Auld  Lang  Syne.'^ 

HYMN. 

BY  VHLLIAM  E.  RICHARDSON. 

Here  gathered  round  this  festive  scene, 
Have  met  the  friends  of  youth, 
To  pledge  once  more  affection's  gift 
Of  Friendship,  Love  and  Truth  ; 

Then  ere  our  festive  "fecenes  are  o'er, 

Ere  we  our  joys  resign, 

"With  hand  in  hand,  each  trusty  frienjL 

Shall  pledge  to  *' auld  lang  syne." 

We'll  pledge  their  memories,  who  of  old, 
Could  home  and  joys  forego, 
Who  dared  to  found  for  us  a  home. 
One  hundred  years  ago ; 


117 

Here  on  this  spot  their  children  met, 
To  join  with  loud  acclaim, 
With  grateful  hearts  to  twine  a  wreath 
Around  their  honored  name. 

Old  age  here  blends  its  trejnbling  tongue, 
With  childhood's  lisping  vow, 
To  join  the  song  whose  echoes  ring. 
Round  old  Wachusett's  brow  ; 

Then  swell  the  chorus  to  their  praise, 

Join  every  one  below, 

In  memory  of  our  parents  dead, 

One  hundred  years  ago. 

Time  will  not  grant  a  scene  like  this, 
To  us  on  earth  again. 
Then  while  we  pledge  the  parting  tear. 
We'll  trust  in  "  auld  lang  syne  ;  " 

Then  may  our  record  brightly  shine. 

Prove  earthly  duties  done, 

'Twill  gild  the  page  of  past  "  lang  syne," 

And  gem  the  one  to  comCi 


LETTERS 


The  following  letters  were  received  by  the  Committee 
of  Arrangements,  from  individuals  invited,  but  unable  to 
be  present  on  the  occasion  of  the  Anniversary. 


"WesTbokough,  Oct.  15th,  1859. 
W.  B.  GooDNOw  : 

Dear  Sir: — It  would  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  be 
present  at  the  commemorative  Centennial  Anniversary  of  Princeton.  Did 
not  indispensable  engagements  prevent  my  attendance,  I  would  most  cor- 
dially accept  your  invitation.  In  token  of  the  deep  interest  I  still  cherish 
for  the  people  of  your  town,  I  oflfer  the  following  sentiment : 

Princeton — Elevated  and  commanding  in  its  natural  position.  May  its 
inhabitants,  in  time  to  come,  as  in  time  past,  be  distinguished  for  their 
physical  and  intellectual  vigor;  for  firmness  of  purpose,  and  for  the 
industrious  cultivation  of  its  mountain  soil. 


Yours,  truly, 


E.  DEMOND. 


UxBRiDGB,  Oct.  15th^  1859. 
William  B.  Goodnow,  Esq.  : 

My  Dear  Sir: — ^Your  circular,  inviting  me 
to  attend  the  Centennial  Celebration  in  Princeton,  on  the  20th  inst.,  was 
duly  received.  I  am  very  grateful  for  this  kind  remembrance  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements,  signified  by  yourself.  It  would  give  me  great 
pleasure  to  be  present  on  an  occasion  of  so  much  interest  to  the  citizens  of 
Princeton.  I  was  longer  in  the  ministry  there  than  were  any  of  my  pre- 
decessors, or  than  have  been  any  of  my  successors.  It  was  the  birth-place 
of  my  children.    Though  I  have  been  away  many  years,  my  interest  in, 


119 

and  attachment  to  the  place  and  inhabitants,  have  not  ceased.  But  I  am 
now  very  much  of  an  invalid.  I  have  not  strength  to  enable  me  to  endure 
the  excitement  and  fatigue  of  the  occasion,  which  I  very  much  regret.  1 
shall  always  rejoice  in  the  temporal  and  spiritual  prosperity  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Princeton,  where  I  spent  so  many  years,  and  had  so  many  firm 
friends,— friends,  many  of  whom  have  passed  to>  the  better  land. 

With  kind  regards  to  your  associates  on  the  Committee,  and  hoping  the 
occasion  will  pass  pleasantly  and  profitably,  I  remain,  dear  sir, 
Respectfully,  yours, 

SAMUEL  CLARKE. 


Ellington,  Oct.  18th,  1859. 
To  Messrs.  Edward  E.  Hartwell,  John  Brooks,  Jr.,  George  E.  Pratt, 
and  others,  Committee  of  Princeton,  Mass.,  appointed  to  direct  and 
superintend  the  public  proceedings  in  that  town,  on  the  20th  inst.,  in 
commemoration  of  the  completion  of  one  hundred  years  since  the  incor- 
poration of  the  town. 

Gentlemen  : 

Yours  of  the  15th  inst.,  through  the  agency  of  Caleb  Dana, 
Esq.,  of  "Worcester,  came  to  hand  last  eve,  (the  one  directed  to  me  in  Troy, 
I  never  heard  from,)  is  a  call  upon  me  for  my  thanks  for  your  kind  and 
polite  attention  to  me,  in  desiring  my  attendance  on  the  interesting  occa- 
sion,— an  invitation  I  should  most  readily  accept,  if  I  had  strength  and 
health  equal  to  the  journey  and  the  fatigues  which  must  attend  it.  But,  as 
my  health  is,  I  cannot  think  of  it.  On  the  first  of  May,  1859,  I  entered 
on  my  eighty-fifth  year,  and  all  will  say,  as  relates  to  a  man  thus  advanced, 
that  home  is  the  proper  place  for  him. 

With  my  best  respects  for  you,  gentlemen,  personally,  and  my  cordial 
desire  that  the  occasion  may  bring  together  many  circles  of  relatives, 
located  abroad,  and  large  numbers  not  related,  now  almost  strangers, 
from  long  absence  from  the  family  mansion  ;  and  that  the  festivities  and 
exercises  of  the  day,  may  be  blessed  for  the  highest  good  of  the  town,  and 
every  family  m  it,  is  the  warm  desire  and  earnest  prayer  of,  gentlemen, 
yours,  most  respectfully, 

JOSEPH  RUSSELL. 


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